LOGINThe diner he took me was tucked away in a corner of the city that seemed forgotten by time, squeezed between two leaning brick buildings. It was called Malee’s, and the sign was so faded you could barely read the name, but the scent hit me the moment I stepped out of the SUV, a sharp aroma of lemongrass, roasted chilies, and something sweet and nutty.I looked at the peeling green paint and the mismatched chairs through the window. "How do you even find a place like this?" I asked, leaning against the car. It was miles away from the district where Zayn lived.Zayn jumped out, looking refreshed, his hair bun slightly messy from the wind. "I worked here when I first arrived in the city," he said, a nostalgic glint in his eyes. "Long before Eve found me and had me come work at Elysium. I was a server, running plates of Pad Thai until my feet bled. It’s where I learned that people are usually more honest when they’re hungry." He grinned. I chucked, following him toward the door. "And Eve
The school was a sensory overload I wasn't prepared for. As I stepped out of the SUV, the air was filled with the high-pitched sound of children shouting, the thud of a ball hitting a brick wall, and the smell of cut grass and old floor wax.I felt like an alien who had just landed on a foreign planet. My childhood had been a series of dark rooms, hushed whispers from a terrified mother, and later, the cold silence of tutors in the Giordano mansion. I never had the opportunity to go to a school before. When I was with my mother, I was barely allowed outside the house because she was trying to hide me from my father.And when my father finally found me, I was home schooled with my brothers.I’d never seen this many kids in one place before looking so joyful and happy. Back then, we only had weapons to fight amongst ourselves in that hell hole. But these kids, they looked so... small..so fragile and happy."You coming?" Zayn asked, glancing back at me. "Yeah," I muttered, adjusting m
I found myself doing something I hadn't done in years. I was humming.It was a low, tuneless vibration in my throat, a strange sound that felt entirely foreign to my vocal cords. I was sitting in my SUV outside that crumbling tenement building, the engine idling with a soft purr that matched the weird, fluttery energy in my chest. I’d been there for twenty minutes already. I hadn't even stopped for coffee, let alone breakfast. My stomach was basically empty, but I was too wired on adrenaline and... whatever the hell this was... to care about the fact that my insides were screaming for food.I checked my watch again. It was 8:15 AM so Zayn should be out soon. My phone buzzed on the passenger seat, the screen lit up with a call. I didn't even look at the caller ID, I just swiped and pressed it to my ear, my voice coming out light, airy, and dare I say…cheerful."Rocco speaking!" I chirped."Ewwwww! Gross! What the hell was that?"The voice on the other end was a sharp rasp that immedi
Eve was looking at me like I’d finally lost the last of my sanity."No way in hell, Rocco," she said, her voice dropping the playful lilt for something sharper and more protective. "Angel is for the eyes, not the hands. He’s my biggest draw, and he has a solo on the silks in twenty minutes, and he is not a fucking host.” She hissed.“He doesn’t sit with patrons, he doesn't drink with them, and he certainly doesn't do private sessions.""I don't give a damn about his sessions," I growled, taking a long, aggressive pull of my cigar. "Tell the crowd he’s injured or that he’s been kidnapped. I don't care what lie you spin, but I want him in that room now."Eve folded her arms, her silver-clad chest heaving. "Last night you looked like you wanted to choke the life out of him, so I’m not sending my golden boy into a room with a man who has violence written in his DNA."The word choke made me think of something else entirely as an image flashed behind my eyes…not of my hands around his throa
The city lights stretched out before me like a carpet of fallen stars, cold and indifferent as I stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of my penthouse suite. I didn't want to go back home yet because I didn't want to see my brother fawning over that spy cop, so I stayed away. I held a glass of red wine in my hand looking like a pool of blood in the dim light as I stretched my muscles in my bathrobe, my skin still damp from a scalding shower that had failed to wash away the sensation of Zayn’s hands on my skin. “I am fucking losing my mind.” I groaned in frustration. I took a long sip of the wine, the alcohol burning my throat. I couldn’t believe it. I was a fucking Giordano. People knelt when I entered a room and people begged for their lives when I looked at them too long. And yet, a red-headed dancer in a shithole apartment had just played me like a goddamn fiddle. He had used me, kissed me until my brain turned to mush, and then tossed me out into the hallway like a p
I sat there, paralyzed on that rickety kitchen stool, while the world narrowed down to the space between my face and his. Zayn was so close I could see the golden flecks in his emerald eyes, the tiny dampness on his lower lip, and the absolute, terrifying lack of fear in his expression. He knew he had me. He knew that for all my muscle and my brute reputation, I was currently a slave to the way he smelled…like cheap soap and something electric, something like a storm about to break. "You won't even deny it," Zayn whispered, his voice a low, teasing vibration that sent a shudder straight down my spine. He grinned, a wicked, triumphant flash of teeth. "I see it, Rocco. I see the way your breath freezes when I’m near. I see the way your eyes track my mouth." He didn't wait for an answer as he reached up, his small arms winding around my heavy shoulders, drawing himself into my space until I could feel the heat radiating off his chest. "Do you want to kiss me, Rocco?" he asked, his voi
~ Dante's POV ~Before I could even process the movement of my body, I lunged forward, my fist connecting with Antonio’s jaw with a sickening crack. The force sent him flying, before his body slammed into the cold hard hospital floor. Blood bloomed instantly from his split lip, staining the tiles
From the very moment Liam walked into Dante’s life, everything I had painstakingly built for myself began to crumble little by little.I knew from the start that he was definitely trouble. He was too smooth, too curious, too loveable. I hate to admit it but he really was a likeable and cute person.
But I refused to be like them. I refused to be a robotic human. I approached Marco who was the only one I could talk to at least. "We should form an alliance," I insisted. "We can protect each other…it would be better than dying alone." I tried my possible best to convince him.Marco, though reluct
“Run!!”The only thing I heard was Marco screaming at me to run, his hand shooting out and pulling me along with him. I ran blindly, my energy fuelled by terror, and I barely knew the grounds so where the hell was I even going? How would I know where to hide? I guess I'll just figure it out. This







