LOGINLife can be cruel. One moment you’re on the verge of reaching the peak of your career, your sweetheart of five years finally down on one knee, promising forever. The next, your world burns to ashes—literally. Now, I’m not just a prisoner; I’m the plaything of the most feared man in the country. I told myself I hated him, that I’d never break. But what kind of woman starts to crave the way he owns her body, the way his touch sets her on fire? How do you survive when the man who owns you is as ruthless as he is captivating? How do you escape a man who makes you question everything, even your sanity? ~~ When her father’s PTSD causes a catastrophic accident, Lucia Castellano finds herself at the mercy of Dante Romano, a man whose name strikes fear into the heart of Chicago’s criminal underworld. Taken as a slave to pay for her father’s alleged crime, Lucia is thrown into a world of power, control and dangerous seduction. Dante’s control is absolute, his touch both punishing and addictive. What starts as a fight for survival turns into a dangerous game of submission and trust. But as the lines blur between captor and captive, Lucia begins to unravel a dark truth: Dante is haunted by a past that binds them more deeply than she ever expected. Together, they must uncover a web of lies to uncover the truth behind the fire that changed both their lives forever. Author’s Note: This book contains explicit content, strong language, violence, and other adult themes that may be disturbing to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.
View MoreDante’s POVI’d survived bullets, blood, betrayal.But nothing prepared me for the moment Lucia went into labor.It started with a sharp gasp in the middle of the night. Her fingers clutched my wrist, nails digging in like claws, and her breath came in ragged, uneven waves. I was up in a second… shirtless, gun on the nightstand forgotten, pulse pounding like I was walking into a firefight.“It’s time,” she whispered, and I swear the ground shifted beneath me.Time.I’d planned wars with less urgency than I moved that night. One call to the doctor. Another to secure the hospital route. I was calm. Efficient. A fucking machine.Until she screamed in the car.That’s when I lost it.By the time we got to the delivery room, my shirt was inside out, I’d put my suit jacket on backward, and my hands…those hands that never trembled even with a trigger under them, were shaking.She was a hurricane on that bed. Sweat running down her face. Hair plastered to her neck. Her legs trembling, fists cl
Lucia’s POVIf someone told me the most painful moment of my life would also be the most beautiful, I would’ve laughed in their face.Now?Now I was gripping the edge of Dante’s wrist so tightly he might never regain circulation….and I still didn’t care.“Don’t just stand there like a statue!” I screamed, sweat sliding down my temple. “Do something!”He blinked down at me, clearly fighting for composure, though the vein in his neck was twitching and his shirt was inside out, his hair looked like he’d run through a storm. “I am doing something,” he said too calmly. “I’m here. I’m being supportive.”“Supportive?” I seethed. “You’re pacing like a caged lion and offering me water, Dante. I don’t need water. I need this child out of me!”His mouth opened like he had something clever to say, but the nurse glanced up from the monitor, cutting him off.“She’s at nine centimeters. Almost time.”Dante paled. Visibly.I almost laughed if it weren’t for the fact that another contraction slammed i
Dante’s POVHospitals made me uneasy.Not for the usual reasons. It wasn’t the sterile air or the too-clean walls or the faint scent of bleach that lingered like regret. No. It was the waiting.The fucking waiting.I’d stood in burning warehouses, blood soaking through my shirt, with my Glock still hot from a kill, and I was calmer than I was right now. But nothing in that building was trying to kill me.Except my own thoughts.Lucia sat beside me in the private OB consultation room I had reserved—one of those quiet, high security clinics where no one saw you unless I said so.It wasn’t cheap. But nothing about that pregnancy had been. She was quiet, too. Hands folded over her stomach. It was still small. Barely a bump. But I saw it. I saw him or her… hell, I didn’t even know which was growing in her yet.Inside my woman.My throat felt tight.“How much longer?” I asked, not to anyone in particular.Lucia gave me a side-glance. “They’re only five minutes late.”Yeah. Five minutes felt
~*Three Years Later*~Lucia’s POVThe smell of antiseptic was the first thing that hit me. Faint, but always there. It clung to the whitewashed walls and vinyl chairs, mixed with the scent of overwatered plants and the too-sweet coffee from the vending machine in the hallway…like the place was trying too hard to feel comforting. Like it forgot that most of us walking through these doors weren’t looking for comfort. We were looking for pieces of someone we used to know.I hated it.But I came anyway.Every month. Without fail.“Mommy, is Grandpa going to remember me today?” Enea asked, small hand gripping mine tightly.I looked down at him—his dark curls unruly, his lashes long like his father’s. He was the perfect mix of us, and somehow, all his own.“I don’t know, baby,” I said gently. “But we’re going to try.”He nodded, brave even at three. Brave like Dante.When we entered the sunlit visiting room, I spotted my father immediately. He was sitting by the window, his face tilted towa
Dante’s POVThe mission had gone smoother than I’d expected. My men had followed every instruction, down to the last brutal detail. Daniel was exactly where I wanted him—broken, exposed. And Lucia… safe. Untouched. That was the only condition I gave.But what she said haunted me. I stood in the di
Dante’s POVMy mind was racing with possibilities as I waited for the tech guy to finish his analysis. The air was thick with the tension that had been building ever since I realized someone was playing me for a fool. Every second felt like an eternity, and every passing moment only seemed to add t
Dante’s POV The documents felt like fire in my pocket. Like they’d scorch a hole through my coat, my skin, my soul. We didn’t speak the entire drive back. I stared out the window, jaw clenched so hard it ached, as Gabriel drove us through the winding city streets like nothing had changed—like
Dante’s POV“What’s wrong?”Her face had gone pale, her hand frozen around her phone. Lucia didn’t speak for a heartbeat. Then another. I moved toward her slowly, my pulse already shifting into that dangerous rhythm I’d come to know too well—the one that meant someone had dared to threaten what was






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