In a world of wealth and power, Giana Marino's life seems perfect as the wife of ruthless millioniare Dante North. But behind closed doors, she's trapped in a toxic marriage. When Dante's great-grandfather passes away, he seizes the opportunity to secure his inheritance - by divorcing Giana due to her scandalous past and marrying actress Piper Lane. Left shattered and destitute, Giana's world is turned upside down. But her life takes a dramatic turn when she's rescued by the enigmatic and seductive Maximilian who offers her a contract marriage in exchange of a job and shelter. But apart from the intense electrical chemistry they share he shocks her when he is introduced as Dante’s Uncle, now not only is she Dante’s ex-wife, she is also now his Step-Aunt. As they ignite in a passionate affair, Giana must confront her past and the danger that follows her. Will Maximilian be her salvation or a new threat? Can she escape her demons and find love in the arms of this mysterious stranger?
View MoreGIANA POV
“Sign the divorce papers now Giana, we don’t have time to waste” Dante threw the papers in my face, with no remorse. “What if I don’t want to?” I ask my hands shaking as I reach the papers from the floor, “I wanted to be done with Dante for good but I owed him my life, I was married to him for five years and I've been loyal, like a dog, like a stepping stool. “Then you will have to go to court and I don't think you have a dime to your name to pay any lawyers do you?” Piper my little step- sister said beside him. Both of them, Dante and Piper were the perfect couple to everyone, they played movie roles together, and she even attended his CEO parties with him like they were husband and wife but I was his wife, embarrassed by me and my curvy stature, and he kept me at home away from his family and friends. He only married me out of pity I know, he had saved me from a crime I had committed while we were in college and married me to keep me safe, leaving me with only my step-mother and step-sister, Piper, they maltreated me in all forms but I stayed because I had committed a great crime, one they all knew about, and due to this, they had power over me. I was to get a part of the family inheritance after my fathers death but only if I was married, Dante seized the opportunity and convinced me into giving him everything. I was happy he was serving me the divorce papers and finally happy about parting ways but I was distraught, where would I go from here? Sleep on the streets? Beg for money? Tears glazed my eyes and I turned to look at the both of them. “You both always hated me” I whisper staring at the paper in my hands, “you made sure to always make it known” I sigh, “I won’t sign the papers unless you give me a portion of my inheritance back!!” I turn to Dante with angry eyes, tears running down my face. Piper giggles beside him, stepping forward, a slap is thrown across my face before I can catch it throwing me to the floor. I gasp my eyes wide as I stare up at her, “You were married to Dante for long, you ate, slept, and remained clothed under his roof, I think that's enough payment for a woman whose mother was a whore and whose daughter was a killer” she laughs going to stand beside Dante. He approves of this, she always acted weak and fragile in front of him and always painted me as a bad person and I was always severely punished for it. I grit my teeth the tears from before heavier, what do I do now? “I want my wages!!” I say with panicked eyes, “I worked hard as your personal assistant for years Dante, I deserve my wages.” Dante walks towards me roughly grabbing my hair in his, he turns my eyes to meet with his angry ones. “Sign the damn papers Giana or I’ll make you pay, I will destroy you and you don’t want to see that side of me” he lets go of my head throwing me to the floor like a rag. My fingers shake as I sign the papers, permanently removing me from his life. As soon as I sign the papers, a bag is thrown on my lap. “Those are your clothes, get out before I ask the guards to do it myself” Piper rolls her eyes, her fingers wrapped around Dante's neck as they share a passion-filled kiss. “Well, what are you waiting for?” Dante turns to me brows raised, his eyes pointing to the door. I stepped out of the house, my phone in hand and a bag in the other, the moon reflects down at me as the guards kicked me out of the gates, standing by the side of the road, I’m confused, I call the only number I have saved on my phone. My stepmother. “Hello Mother,” I say into the phone the cold wind catching up with me as I walk further into the city. “I told you not to call me that, I am not your mother??, what do you want?” “A place for the night,” I say my voice coming out in panic once I realize I'm alone and liable to be raped or worse killed out here on the streets, my eyes move around, homeless men and women litter the street, I can't end up here. She laughs into the phone, “Piper and Dante are to be married soon and Piper is already pregnant, something you couldn't do in your years of marriage, why should I help you? Goodnight Giana” she says her voice rough and angry call ending with a harsh tone. Tears fill my eyes and my lips start to shake in the cold, my eyes move around the street, apart from the bars and restaurants open, my eyes meet with one signage. “Maxis Stip and pole dancing club” if there's anything I know, they will accept everyone and anything./–Melody–/I didn’t sleep. The lights stayed off, the hallway stayed quiet, but I kept my eyes open.The woman from dinner had said too much to be just another patient. She knew things, about this place, about how to move through it without making noise.The next morning, the knock came earlier than usual. Firm. Not the nurse. Not breakfast.“Melody,” came the voice. Calm. Male. Professional. “Please come with us.”I opened the door to find two orderlies flanking Dr. Halpern. She wore a different outfit today—dark green slacks, crisp white blouse. Hair pinned back neatly. Serious. Clinical.“This way,” she said.They didn’t speak as they led me down a hall I hadn’t been through before. White walls. No art. No windows. Just a sterile corridor that smelled like cold soap and resignation. I didn’t ask questions. Asking questions makes you look unstable.We entered a new room—larger, more formal. The walls weren’t padded. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead. A long table stretched across t
/-Melody-/I couldn't believe that my own brother was trying to force me to go to a psychiatric hospital simply because he felt I was obsessed with him. So what if I was?That didn't mean I was crazy or anything. My head was working perfectly and if it wasn't, I wouldn't need anyone to tell me that.It was all because of that woman. That god-forsaken gutter bitch nobody he picked up from wherever. She was rhe one making him believe that everyone else was the problem when it was clearly her. It was more annoying that Maxmillian wouldn't want to hear me out. But it didn't matter. I was going to get out of here by all means necessary. All I had to do was pass their stupid evaluation and after that, I was very certain that he would hear me out. A soft knock on the door. Then it opened.A woman walked in. Lab coat. Clipboard. That smug, professional calm that all these therapists practiced in the mirror. Like they were doing God’s work. Her eyes scanned me like I was a case file before
/–Eric–/The prison gates swallowed us like a steel-jawed beast.It wasn’t the first time I’d seen the inside of a place like this, but it was the first time I looked like this walking in. Blood on my collar. One eye nearly swollen shut. Lip split wide open. Ribs cracked like dried twigs.The guards noticed. Of course, they did. They always do. But no one said a word, not at first.Lane walked two steps behind me, acting like he didn’t just beat the soul out of me in the middle of some abandoned shipping yard. The rookie kept his head down, barely speaking since we left the scene.The intake officer squinted at the bruises on my face. “Jesus. He fall down a flight of stairs on the way here?”Lane didn’t flinch. “Resisted arrest. Tried to run. Slipped during the takedown. Looked like he hit the pavement with his jaw.”The officer gave him a long look, then glanced back at me. “That true?”I could have said no, even though Lane didn't seem bothered about what my answer might be. It woul
/-Eric-/I should’ve known better than to expect a clean ride to booking.The cruiser veered off the main road twenty minutes ago, and we’d been cruising through what looked like the industrial back end of the city since. Broken warehouses. Abandoned loading docks. Not a streetlight in sight.Detective Lane hadn't said a word. Neither had the rookie. The only sound was the hum of the tires against the cracked asphalt.Then the car stopped.“Out,” Lane said, his voice flat.I cocked my head. “Don’t we usually do mugshots at the station?”He opened the door. “This isn’t about processing.”That got my attention.The rookie stepped out first, clearly jittery. Lane came around and opened my door himself. Rough hands yanked me out, and before I could say another word, I was slammed chest-first against the hood of the cruiser.“Is this the part where you tell me I’ve got the right to remain silent?” I sneered.Lane leaned in close, breath hot against my ear. “No. This is the part where we re
/–Eric–/I should have known it was a trap.From the moment my contact went silent. No calls, no texts, I felt it. That low, crawling chill in the pit of my stomach that told me something had shifted. Something was wrong.Still, I played it cool. Sat in my office like I was untouchable. Like I hadn’t just lost half my crew in a midnight raid. Like Maxmillian hadn’t just outplayed me.But inside, I was boiling.Betrayal.It reeked. I didn’t need confirmation to know where the leak came from—Piper. I should’ve cut her off months ago. But I’d underestimated her. Again. She’d always been smart, but I thought I had her scared enough to stay in line.Apparently not.I slammed the glass of whiskey down on the table hard enough to crack it, the sharp ring echoing through the room. The docks were gone. The cargo was gone. My men—arrested, dead, or in hiding.It was only a matter of time now.My phone buzzed. An unknown number.I answered, not saying a word.“Eric Mercer.” The voice was calm, s
/–Gianna–/I stood on the balcony, watching them leave. Maxmillian led the way, calm and unreadable. Dante and Piper followed, keeping just enough space between them to show that trust was still shaky.The house felt too quiet, like the kind of silence that sinks into your skin.I wasn’t going with them. That had been understood from the start.Maxmillian never asked me to join, and I didn’t offer.This life,.his world, wasn’t mine. Even though I’d been dragged into it, even though I bore the scars, I had drawn a boundary. Tonight, I stayed behind it.Still, I gripped the balcony railing tightly, as if letting go would somehow make everything fall apart. I watched until the black SUVs disappeared into the night.The fight was out there.But the waiting—waiting was harder.I paced the halls. Checked my phone again and again. Time felt slow and heavy. Midnight passed, but sleep didn’t come. Somewhere, Maxmillian was facing danger. Either walking into Eric’s trap—or ending it once and fo
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