LOGINBRYNNS POV:
"Fuck where did she go?" I walk into a club downtown. I've never been to a bar, let alone a place where women are serving drinks topless. My eyes wander around looking for my step sister Jessie. I see a blonde in a red dress go into a closed off area. That has to be her. I run after her. "JESSIE!" I scream. But she doesn't turn around. A blood purple curtain hits me in the face as I enter a room in the back. There's smaller rooms with the same blood purple curtain for each room. Some of the curtains are closed and some open. Women dancing on men. Some moans coming from other rooms. I shield me eyes and just keep looking. "Jessie? You bitch! Come out right now this isn't funny!" we have never really gotten along, but since I escaped my step father's imprisonment, she's been helping me find a new life. I was promised to Ajax Moretti, Jessie's crush. So she was more than happy to get me out of the picture. My step father Robert Mason is mafia boss of the eastern territory, and wanted me to marry to combine the eastern and western territories. But Ajax is ruthless, killed his first wife for spilling soup on his 10k boots. So of course my stepfather isn't going to marry off his blood daughter to someone like that. My life is expendable. I make my way through the hallway, looking in each room. With each curtain I open there's more people fucking then I've ever seen on a p**n site. what kind of club is this? I reach the last door. Pulling back the curtain and there's no one there. "Fuck." I enter the room, its dark with red lights there's a side table with a bottle of unopened champagne and a sectional couch. I stand in front of the couch and pull out my phone to order an uber. A voice startles me from behind. A deep whisper in my ear... "careful... I play with first timers in ways they never forget. I'm curious how long you'll last under my rules, when your eyes are begging me to stop and... I don't" I turn facing him. His hands on the wall, inching closer to my face. he has dark hair, black eyes. The type that should make any woman run. There's a neck tattoo that runs down his chest. He has slicked back hair and his cologne smells like it cost more than my apartment. "Does that work for all the girls? Cute." I push his chest creating enough room to duck under his arm and slip out of the room. The strobe light blinds me. The music loud but I find the exit. The fresh air hits my face, allowing me to breathe. I've never been talk to like that and I've sure as hell never had a man like that so close to me. His cologne still lingering on my blouse. You're halfway across the parking lot when a sleek black Aston Martin pulls alongside you. The window slides down with a whisper. The man from the private room leans across the console, eyes glittering in the darkness. "Need a ride, sweetheart? Or you gonna keep running?" Behind him, two men exit the club's side door. They scan the parking lot with practiced efficiency, hands tucked suspiciously inside their jackets. One spots you and nudges the other. "Boss wants her? the taller one mutters." "Looks like it" the other responds, already moving in your direction. The mysterious man gaze never leaves your face. The only sound is that of the engine purring . "Tick tock. Your choice."BRYNN POV Everything is quiet. Not the kind of quiet that feels empty — this one feels… full. Heavy with warmth and light. The pain is gone. So is the fear. I’m standing somewhere that doesn’t quite exist — a place stitched together from fragments of memory. The sea spreads out in front of me, endless and blue, the same color as Santorini. The air smells like salt and tequila and jasmine. And they’re both here. Vex stands to my right, dressed in black, hands in his pockets, watching the horizon like he’s calculating how to own it. His edges are sharp, defined — danger wrapped in quiet strength. Kade is to my left, leaning against a stone wall, cigarette burning low between his fingers. He’s all shadow and restraint, the kind of calm that hides chaos. For a moment, neither speaks. They just exist — together — in peace. I almost laugh. It’s ridiculous, impossible, and somehow… perfect. “Am I dead?” I ask softly. Vex turns, eyes softer than I’ve ever seen them. “Not yet.” K
BRYNN POV The safe house is quiet. Too quiet. It looks like every other one of Vex’s properties — understated from the outside, fortress on the inside. High walls, steel gate, entry cameras. I should feel safe. I don’t. I step out first, the night air cool against my skin. My heels click against the stone path. I don’t even get to the door. The shot cracks through the air — sharp, close, wrong. For a second, I don’t register that it’s me. Then heat blooms in my stomach. I gasp — more out of shock than pain — looking down as red spreads across the front of my dress. It’s fast. Too fast. Everything slows. Vex is shouting my name. Another shot rings out. Someone returns fire. Voices — Kade? One of Vex’s men? Multiple. Boots on gravel. Orders in Greek. Someone yelling “Down! Down!” but my knees are already giving out. The ground tilts. I hit the stone hard. The pain catches up a second later — white-hot, exploding outward from the wound. It’s hard to breathe. I press my han
BRYNN POV The first thing I register is the headache. Not mine — Vex’s. He’s on his back beside me, one arm flung over his eyes like he’s at war with the sun. The day is too bright for the amount of alcohol he let himself have last night. I can still smell tequila and cologne on his skin. A tiny, very un-mob-boss groan escapes him. I smile. “Good morning, lightweight.” “Don’t,” he mutters without moving. “Everything is loud.” I laugh, rolling onto my side to face him. “Everything is normal. You’re just hungover for the first time in your life.” The arm over his eyes shifts. One dark eye cracks open, studying me. There’s a softness there — the kind that only shows up when he’s tired or right after he’s let himself be vulnerable. “It was worth it,” he says, voice rough. “You were happy.” I prop my head on my hand. “I was.” Memories from last night wash over me — the club, the slow dance, the way he didn’t kill the guy who tried to hit on me, the tacos on the hood of the car.
BRYNN POVMorning light spills through the terrace doors, warm and golden, brushing over tangled sheets and bare skin. The soft crash of waves below the cliffs reminds me it’s our last day in Santorini.Vex is already awake beside me, sitting at the edge of the bed, shirtless, staring out over the balcony. His phone rests facedown on the nightstand—rare restraint for him.“You’re awake early,” I murmur, voice still thick with sleep.He glances back, and something in his expression softens. “I’ve got plans.”“Plans?”He stands, stretching lazily. “It’s our last night here. I thought you might want to end it right.”There’s something behind his tone—quiet anticipation, the hint of a smile he’s trying to hide.“Should I be nervous?” I tease.“Maybe.”⸻Hours later, the car winds down the cliff roads toward the city. White walls gleam in the late-afternoon sun, the sea burning gold at the horizon. I watch him in the reflection of the window—one hand on the wheel, the other resting loosely
KADE POVThe line goes dead, but her voice doesn’t leave.It lingers — soft, uncertain — replaying in the back of my mind like an echo I can’t silence.I drag a hand over my face, staring down at the phone still glowing on the desk. For a second, I almost call her back. Just to hear her breathe. Just to remind myself she’s still real.Instead, I shove the phone into the drawer and lock it.Out of sight.Not out of mind.The office at the club hums with low music and muffled voices from below — the sounds of a club running smoothly for once. I should feel satisfied. The shipments are back on schedule, the docks are clean, and no one’s bleeding out in the alley tonight. That should be enough.But it isn’t.Every report I sign, every order I give, my mind drifts back to her — the curve of her voice when she said my name, the faint hesitation that told me she wasn’t alone.Vex.Of course he was there.I grip the edge of the desk until my knuckles ache. The jealousy hits hard, ugly, and im
BRYNN POVHe positions himself above me, his body taut with barely restrained need. His hands frame my face as he looks down at me, something raw and vulnerable flickering in his dark eyes despite the hunger there."Brynn..." my name escapes him like a confession he doesn't want to make.He enters me slowly, deliberately, his jaw clenching with the effort of maintaining control. The sensation makes us both gasp, bodies fitting together like they were meant for this moment."Fuck," he breathes against my neck, his voice strained. "You feel incredible."His movements are measured at first, each thrust deep and purposeful, but the careful control begins to fracture as pleasure builds between us both."Tell me how it feels, Brynn."“You feel amazing in me.” My words ignite something in him. His control snaps completely as he drives deeper, harder, each thrust claiming me entirely."Brynn..." my name tears from his throat with a growl. His pace becomes relentless, desperate, like he's tr







