Masuk...Elysia’s POV The closet smelled of cedar and expensive leather, suffocating, like the house itself was trying to swallow me whole.I was curled into the tiniest cupboard at the very back of Adrian’s walk in wardrobe, knees to chest and spine pressed against rows of polished shoes that probably cost more than my entire life. My breath came in shallow, terrified puffs. I had to stay silent. Had to disappear.In my shaking fingers was a maid’s phone, an old model I’d palmed from Maria’s apron pocket when she’d bent to pick up the shattered tray I’d thrown. The screen glowed faintly in the darkness, casting ghostly light over my tear-streaked face.Footsteps echoed outside. Voices, rapid Italian, frantic.“She can’t have gone far!”“Check the balconies again!”“Signore will kill us if we don’t find her!”I bit down on my lip until I tasted blood. They wouldn’t look here. No one would think to crawl into this cramped little space barely big enough for a child. I was safe. For now.
...Adrian’s POV The study smelled of leather, gun oil, and the rage I was barely keeping leashed.Damien, my bestfriend of childhood, stood across from my desk, arms folded, ice blue eyes steady in that infuriating way that always made him look like he knew something I didn’t. The Russians’ message lay open between us, the paper still flecked with dried blood.They wanted Elysia.In exchange for Marco Moretti, alive and breathing, gift wrapped for my revenge.I stared at the photograph they’d sent, Marco on his knees, gagged, eyes swollen shut, the coward finally caught. My fingers curled around the glass of whiskey so hard the crystal groaned.Damien broke the silence first. “It’s a clean trade, Adrian. We get the rat who stole fifty million and humiliated the family. You get to gut him yourself. Slowly. Publicly. All you have to do is hand over the girl for forty-eight hours. They swear no permanent harm.”I didn’t answer. Just drained the whiskey in one burning swallow.Damie
...Elysia’s POV The room was a cage disguised as luxury silk sheets that mocked my freedom, crystal lamps that lit up my despair. I paced like a trapped animal, chest heaving, fists clenched until my nails bit into my palms. How had it come to this? One night of heartbreak, one stupid mistake in a club, and now I was the “fiancée” of Adrian Valente, the mafia king who thought he could own me like a pretty trinket.I screamed, raw and furious, grabbing a porcelain vase from the nightstand and hurling it at the wall. It shattered with a satisfying crash, shards scattering like my broken life. “I won’t stay here!” I yelled to no one, voice echoing off the high ceilings. “I won’t let you control me!”Another lamp crash. A book from the shelf—thud against the door. I wanted to escape. I would escape. My father had run, hadn’t he? Disappeared into the shadows with his stolen millions. If he could vanish, so could I. I didn’t care about the consequences anymore. My mother, Valentina
...ELYSIA The Polaroid fluttered to the carpet like a death sentence. Matteo on his knees. Gun to his head.Red ink screaming: Your move, Mrs. Valente. I stared at it, at the terror in Matteo’s eyes, at the blood already dripping from his nose, and something inside me snapped like a bone. I shot to my feet.“You bastard!” The word tore out of me, raw and vicious. I snatched the nearest thing within reach (a heavy crystal tumbler from the nightstand) and hurled it at Adrian’s head with every ounce of strength I had.He didn’t even flinch. The glass shattered against the wall behind him, shards exploding like ice.I stormed across the room, fists clenched so tight my nails cut crescents into my palms.“You think you can just- just play God with people’s lives?” I screamed, voice cracking. “You think I’m some doll you can dress up and threaten and fuck whenever you feel like it?” I reached him and shoved his chest with both hands. Hard.He didn’t move an inch. Just stood there, six-f
...ELYSIA The second the door slammed behind Adrian, the spell shattered. I was alone. Naked. Wearing nothing but a black-diamond ring that felt like a shackle. My pulse roared in my ears, louder than the ocean outside.I scrambled off the bed, legs still trembling from the weight of him, from the almost of what he’d been about to do again. The sheets were warm where he’d been, and I hated how my body wanted to crawl back into that warmth.No.I snatched the discarded clothes from the floor. Lisa’s hoodie, the tank top, the sweatpants. My hands shook so badly I nearly tore the zipper. The ring caught on the fabric every time I moved, flashing like it was laughing at me.Why should I pay for my father’s sins? He stole. He ran. He left us to the wolves.He was gone, probably sipping cocktails on some island that didn’t extradite, and I was the one about to be caged and bred like a prize mare.I didn’t owe anyone. Not my mother. Not Valentina. Not the ghost of Marco Moretti. Only mys
...ELYSIA The car’s door opened onto a world of salt and marble and money.Cold wind whipped off the Mediterranean, sharp enough to cut skin. The Valente estate rose in front of us like a fortress carved from nightmares. Three stories of black glass and white stone, terraces dripping with bougainvillea, armed men on every corner pretending they weren’t watching.Adrian stepped out first, all lethal grace in that black suit, and turned back to me.He extended one hand, palm up, tattooed knuckles gleaming. Waiting.I stayed glued to the leather seat, arms crossed so tight my nails dug crescents into my skin.I would not take his hand. I would not make this easy. His dark brow arched. Then he leaned down, one forearm braced on the roof of the car, the other on the doorframe, caging me in shadow.“Babygirl,” he murmured, voice low and filthy, “do you want me to punish you right here where all my men can watch?” His gaze dragged down my body, slow, deliberate. “I’ll bend you over the h







