Sera woke to the sound of footsteps. Hard, definite, heavy.Her heart jumped. For a moment, her mind fogged in half-sleep terror—*Was it another threat? Another punishment?*But she saw him. Valerio, slouching at the bedside like a shadow stitched from the shadows themselves.He wasn't supposed to be there. Not after what she'd done the previous night—not after she'd thrown that glass at him, screamed at him, told him to get out of her life the devil himself.And yet.here he was. As inevitable as the flow of the tide."Get out," she snarled, pulling the blanket tighter around her body, though she was still wearing her skimpy silk nightgown underneath. "I told you, I'm done."Valerio did not blink. Did not shift. His silver eyes drifted across her, slow and intentional, absorbing her. It was not lust in their eyes—it was *possession*. Something deeper, darker, *hungerer*. The atmosphere surrounding them thickened until breathing grew hard."No," he breathed, his words a dark, velve
Sera stared at her reflection in the gold mirror, unmoving.The silver collar glittered at her throat, complex and remorseless, a constant reminder of what had just occurred.Of whom she now belonged to.Valerio lounged in an armchair across the room, legs splayed wide, watching her with a look that made her tremble.Not with fear.With something far more dangerous.Possession.He held a glass of whiskey in one hand, the ice clinking as he tilted it lazily, but his gaze never left her. Heavy. Hungry. "You’re trembling," he observed, voice low and dark.She was. Barefoot, in nothing but her silk nightgown and his collar, she felt stripped down to the bone. Exposed in ways she had never been before."I want it off," she whispered, reaching for the edge of the vanity to balance herself.Valerio merely sipped his drink, unconcerned."You put it on yourself, Sera.""It doesn't matter that I accepted it."He snarled. "Doesn't it?"The heat of his gaze skated over her flesh like a br
Sera woke to the heaviness of Valerio's arm draped across her waist, his body wrapped around hers like a living shackle.For an instant, she lay there, breathing him in.Leather. Smoke. Male heat.His smell was burned into her skin, her hair, into her bones.As if no matter where she went, she'd always carry him with her.She gritted her eyes shut, pushing the panic gnawing the back of her throat down. *Last night was a mistake.**Another mistake.*But her body betrayed her, aching lazily between her legs, a deep, burning pulse that wasn't remorse—but everything about him.Valerio moved beside her, his chest rumbling with a noise that wasn't quite a sound.His fingers traced slow, lazy patterns along the curve of her hip, brushing the sensitive skin just above the silver collar he’d locked around her throat."You’re awake," he murmured, voice thick with sleep.Sera swallowed hard. "Let me go."The hand on her hip tightened, not enough to hurt—but enough to warn."Careful, little lamb
Sera sat at the edge of the enormous bed, the silk sheet wrapped around her nakedness like a strand of tenuous protection in an oncoming tsunami that sought to engulf her in an avalanche of inescapable reality.Light streamed into the floor-to-ceiling windows of the suite, bathing the room in amber. Luxurious. Beautiful. Like gold-cherished bars glinting.The scent of sex still lingered in the air, thick and heavy. On her skin. In her hair. Deep inside her.*You’re safe now, Sera.*The words haunted her.*Safe.* Safe in the arms of the very man who’d ripped away her freedom.Safe in the bed of a devil.Sera shook, tossing back her hair. Her face scowled back at her in the silver-framed mirror opposite the door to the room — a stranger whose lips are puffy from kisses, cheeks a hot burn of red, welts mapping themselves out like an arch along the column of her throat. Marks of possession.Marks of insanity.She detested the way her body still throbbed with hunger for him, the way her
Sera was sitting in the armchair by the window, legs to her chest, wearing nothing but one of Valerio's black shirts that engulfed her small body. She looked out over the spread city below, glittering in the night sky.It should have made her feel free.Instead, she felt trapped.Imprisoned within a palace, owned by a man capable of shattering her with the force of his mind.She could still feel him on her flesh—his touch branded into her like a fiery iron, even hours later.Even now, she ached with a hunger she detested.The door creaked open behind her, closing softly.Sera flinched, but she didn't turn back.She already knew his identity.She could feel him. The air shifted when he entered a room, like even the walls bent to his will.Valerio said nothing at first. He simply watched her, his presence heavy, tangible."You’re quiet, dolcezza," he murmured at last.His voice, rich and deep, caressed the back of her neck, raising goosebumps.Sera didn’t answer.She couldn’t trust
Sera wasn't meant to want this.She wasn't meant to wake in Valerio's arms and feel.safe.But as morning light filtered through the thick drapes, she remained nestled against him, her ear against the solid beat of his heart. His arm was across her waist, holding her in possession even in slumber.She ought to get out of there. Ought to creep out of his bed and put as much distance between them as she could.And yet, she stayed.Because part of her — the part she was most terrified of — *liked* the way he held her.It didn't make sense.He was the devil.A monster in velvet and steel.A man who could take lives away with the flick of a wrist.And yet. he treated her like something divine.It was infuriating.And deadly.Especially since she was beginning to believe the fantasies her body whispered to her — that she could resist him.That she could play with him, tease him, dance along the edge of his dominance without being singed.A silly idea began to take root in her mind.Maybe it
Sera woke the following morning to an empty bed.The sheets beside her were still warm, scented with Valerio's aroma — dark, rich, intoxicating — but he was gone.For a while, she just lay there, feeling the ache between her thighs, the gentle bruising around her wrists where he'd pinned her down.They were marks of possession.Marks she should hate.But she didn't.Not yet.She groaned and sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. The silk slip she had worn to bed the previous night was torn and strewn on the floor, a testament to Valerio's loss of control.*Good,* she thought, a wry smile tugging at her mouth. *Let him lose control. Let him fall.*For she was falling too — harder and faster than she wanted to admit.Before she could slip into the bathroom, there was a knock on the door.Sera's heart missed a beat.For one wild moment, she wondered if it was Valerio — come back to finish what he'd started.But when she opened the door, it was another man.Tall. Somber. All
Sera woke up ensnared in silk sheets, her wrists still tender from the memory of Valerio's tie.The room was heavy with the scent of him — dark spices, leather, and sex.For a moment, she simply lay there, letting herself drift on the radiance of the night before.Her body ached in the best way possible.Her soul. was another matter.*Losing yourself,* a harsh voice said in her mind.But warning was too late.She'd belonged to him since the time she'd ejected him from her dressing room and made him desire her.A gentle knock at the door snapped her back to reality.She hadn't even had time to call out before the door opened.It was one of Valerio's men — not the same one this time.Younger. Virtually boyish.But the grit in his eyes was all mafia."The boss wants you ready in fifteen," he said. "Clothes are in the closet."Then he left, leaving tension behind.Sera swung her legs over the bed, her bare feet sinking into plush carpet.Her whole body ached with bruised pleasure.*Reward
The aftermath of the attack on the safehouse left a thick tension hanging in the air, heavier than the smoke and blood splatters they'd all but escaped. It was early dawn, but Valerio's world had been rewritten. The game had new rules.He stood on the edge of a cliff, beyond the forest clearing several miles from the desecrated safehouse, the wind cutting through his coat and nibbling at him. Sera followed him, silent. The night was silent too, too silent. Out in the distance, there were owls hooting into the night, peacefully unaware of the war raging in silence beneath their branches."We have to go," she whispered.Valerio changed, his face carved from stone. "Where?""To whoever's next on your list."She kept pace with him, slipping her hand into his. He glanced down at the manner in which her fingers curled around his—tight, unyielding."This doesn't stop until we find the one pulling the strings," she continued. "Until you're free."Valerio's face twisted. "Then we start with Da
The shoot-out's aftermath hung over the estate, such as the thick smoke of a fire smothered for too long. Morning light filtered through broken windows, reflected off blood-slicked floors and bullet holes. There was quiet where chaos had erupted mere hours before.Sera stood in the hallway outside the old library, arms wrapped around herself, a blanket draped over her shoulders. Her skin still trembled from adrenaline, her mind a whirlwind of images—Valerio with blood on his knuckles, the mole’s lifeless eyes, the shouts, the gunfire.But more than anything, she remembered Valerio’s arms around her afterward, his voice rough as he murmured, “You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”She hadn't given up since.In the library, Valerio lay on the long, blackened table, his gaze down on a crumpled map and list of names. His shoulders tensed, jaw clenched. What was to have been a clever ambush had been successful—but at a cost. One of his men had been injured, and the mole they'd been following had
The air was filled with gunpowder and blood.Smoke still coiled in relaxed clouds over the ruins along the southern ridge. Forest remained still, save the fading roar of engines. There was a sea of dead bodies covering the frost-covered ground. Valerio was pacing at the edge of the field, coat torn, bruised knuckles, and a deep slash running across the left arm. Ambushers were professionals but had not been expecting him.He'd taken care of that.Sera crept out from behind a fallen tree trunk, chest heaving, face streaked with grime and anger. Her gaze landed on Valerio straight away, relief crossing her features even as her jaw tightened."Are you injured?"He spun around, voice low. "I'm fine. You?"She nodded, sweeping hair from her face. "Bruised. Not broken."Valerio walked toward her, cupping her cheek in his good hand. His thumb wiped a smudge of blood from the jawline. "I said to stay behind the line.""And I said I don't take orders for granted." Her voice shook with adrenali
The guns' noise had long since faded, leaving behind only the crackling of the blaze in the impromptu hideout Valerio's men had occupied. Darkness descended on the forest hideout, thick with silence and secrets. Valerio was at the window, his gaze trained on the trees as if trying to break through the shroud of treachery that had surrounded his organization.Sera slumped on the arm of the leather couch, covered in one of Valerio's warm jackets, dripping wet hair curving around her face in tender strands. Her mind spun from the chaos of everything they had just been through. The fight at the compound. The deception that ran deeper than they had expected. The shadow of what still remained out there, hanging in wait."I don't know whom to trust anymore," Valerio burst out, his voice low, husky. "Every time I think I've located the leak, someone else bleeds.""You trust me," Sera said softly.His head rotated toward her slowly, eyes obscured in the dark. "You're the only one I trust. That
Rifle fire cracked through the underbrush like a fury of vengeance, echoing across the destroyed manor. Sera winced, racing heart still within her, as Valerio shielded her body with his. His arms wrapped around her, driving her behind a blackened pillar as rounds spat stone and ash into the air."Down!" he bellowed, voice booming over the chaos.His men returned fire, moving as precisely as surgeons. The ambush hadn't surprised Valerio—it had merely reinforced what he already knew: there was a mole in his organization, selling information to the enemy.Sera clung to the icy stone, her breathing short and shallow. She could feel the shock of the gunfire through the floor, smell the bitter flavor of metal and smoke. But it wasn't fear that bound her.It was rage.Whoever had enough guts to come for Valerio—enough guts to disrupt what they were building—would regret it.Valerio whirled, dropped down beside her. His mask was streaked with dirt, eyes burning hot with fury. "You believe me?
The sun rose blood-red over the ruined estate, staining the skeletal remains of Valerio's childhood house in fire and gold. The smoke from the last battle still lingered in the air, curling like specters through the broken windows. Sera waited in the silence that followed, her pistol loose at her side, ears still ringing from the gunfire.Valerio crouched next to the body of the man who'd named his father."He's making a grab," Valerio growled, to himself more than anything else. "He waited so long to allow me to establish everything. so he could then attempt to steal it away."Sera stepped forward. "Then he's mistaken."He gazed up at her. There was pride in his eyes, but something more. Sadness. Grief. Not for the man he'd thought of as a father—but for what he'd lost because of him. His mother. His innocence. His peace."This house," Valerio said, standing slowly and surveying the wreckage, "was built on blood. It alway
The ride to the estate was a long one, winding through deserted woods covered in mist. The further they went, the further back into the distance the city retreated, a memory fading into night. Sera sat next to Valerio in the rear of the bulletproof SUV, hands clasped in her lap, eyes flicking toward him every few minutes.He'd said nothing since they'd left the penthouse.Valerio stood at the window, his jaw clenched, a muscle beating at the corner. The silence was another form of weight now—not of anger or distance, but of ghosts. The sort that tugged at him from the past, hissing through the trees they drove by."You alright?" Sera asked at last.He didn't answer initially. Then, in a gravel-edged voice, he said, "I haven't been back here since the fire. Since I saw him walk away from the ashes like he hadn't just killed her."Her breath caught. She leaned in, her fingers closing around his delicately."Then why now?" s
The old Thorne mansion stood as a forgotten presence on the fringes of Eros City. Time had not been kind. Ivy choked the once gracious facade, and shattered windows glared like vacant eyes into the night. The gate screamed open on a metallic shriek as Valerio drove them through, headlights clawing across ruined stone and weeds that clawed their way up the entry steps.Sera sat stiffly in the passenger seat, her fists tight in her lap. "You grew up here?"Valerio didn't look at her. "I survived here. That's all."It smelled of dust and secrets inside. The grand chandelier above the foyer sagged, its crystals dirty. Sera ran her fingers along the peeling wallpaper as Valerio led her through halls that echoed with too much silence.He finally stopped before a wooden door. He pushed it open to reveal a study. Unlike the rest of the house, it was intact against rot. The desk was clean, papers piled neatly. Books lined the shelves, each spine as s
The storm didn't wait.Thunder exploded overhead as rain pounded the roof of the estate in waves, washing away years' worth of dust. The air inside the mansion turned cold, the kind that crept into bones. Valerio and Sera did not move from the drawing room, though. They stayed on the bench of the broken piano, hands still loosely clasped, the resonance of their bond suspended between keys.Valerio's voice broke the silence. "I used to sneak in here when I was a kid to avoid my father's. lessons. This piano was the one thing that I did not find intimidating."Sera looked at him, her throat constricted in her throat. "Lessons?A muscle flexed in his jaw. "His way of making me 'a man.' Violence. Power. Control. Made me fight bigger boys until I couldn't walk. Made me watch things a child shouldn't."She touched him, her hand tracing along his. "And you came back here to confront it?"He met her gaze. "I came because the ghosts only let up on their chase when you meet them head-on.".Ligh