Semua Bab BOUND BY BLOOD AND DESIRE : Bab 1 - Bab 10

Grace Turner stared down at the kitchen table, its once-polished oak surface now scratched and stained with unpaid bills. The late notice on the mortgage, the credit card statements, the pink shutoff warning from the electric company—each one felt like a slap. She didn’t look up when Ava spoke again.“We either sit here and drown, or we take what's not ours and hope to God we don’t get caught.”Grace finally met her friend’s eyes. Ava, fierce and defiant, leaned against the fridge like she owned it. Always in control, even when her husband’s business went belly-up and the bank took their car. Beside her, Sam crossed her arms, silent but not disagreeing. Her lips were pressed into a line so tight it looked painful. She had two kids and a husband who drank away every dollar he didn’t lose in stocks.Grace was the last one standing in a crumbling empire of wives and white picket fences. And now she was about to fall, too.“I just... it’s a grocery store.” Grace's voice was soft. “Not a

The knock echoed like gunshot.Ava locked eyes with Grace, then Sam. No one moved.Another knock. Slower. Heavier.Then the voice again—smooth, unhurried, and laced with danger: “Open the door, or I’ll let myself in. You’ve got five seconds.”Ava moved first. She reached into the drawer near the couch and grabbed the fake pistol. Useless. But it made her feel like she had control.Grace’s heart pounded in her throat as Ava turned the deadbolt.The door opened.And there he was.Cain Russo.Tall. Impeccably dressed in a black tailored suit, dark eyes like smoke and sin. Not handsome in the traditional sense—something harder. Sharper. The kind of man who didn’t need to raise his voice to be obeyed.Behind him stood two enforcers—silent, imposing, their expressions unreadable. Grace barely spared them a glance. She couldn’t stop looking at *him*.Cain stepped inside without asking.The room shrank around him.Ava tried to speak. “Look, we didn’t know—”He held up a hand, silencing her

The job wasn’t at the club this time.Cain had something *special* in mind.The three women stood in a high-end loft in the heart of the city, sleek and cold with panoramic windows that overlooked the skyline. Cain's men had dressed them in tailored black lingerie beneath silk robes—nothing was left to the imagination.Grace adjusted her robe. “What exactly are we doing here?”Luca leaned against the kitchen island, sipping a whiskey. “Entertaining. Distraction. Intelligence.”Ava raised a brow. “You want us to seduce intel out of someone?”Cain appeared then, stepping into the room like a storm cloaked in control. “Not someone,” he said, “*men* who think they’re smarter than me. You smile, you tease, you touch—but you don’t get f**ked. Not unless you want to.”His eyes landed on Grace last, his voice dipping low.“And some of you look like you’re already dangerously close.”Grace flushed but didn’t drop her gaze.Cain’s stare lingered, burning hot enough to leave a mark.Then he was

Grace barely had time to breathe.Cain spun her around, pressing her against the glass wall that overlooked the city like a kingdom beneath his feet. He pulled the straps of her lace bra down her shoulders slowly, as if savoring the reveal.“You walk around my world like you don’t know what you do to me,” he muttered, voice low and rough. “But I think you *do*.”His mouth found her neck again, biting down harder this time, drawing a gasp from her lips as his hands slid lower—gripping, claiming.“I should ruin you for touching him,” he whispered against her collarbone, dragging his fingers beneath the lace of her panties. “But then again… maybe I like it when you lie.”His fingers slid between her thighs.*No teasing.*Just filthy, wet friction. Deep, slow, exact.Grace moaned, arching against him, breath fogging the glass. The city blurred behind her. Nothing mattered but the way he touched her—*owned* her.Cain lifted her effortlessly, carrying her to the black granite counter in his

The morning sun spilled gold across Grace’s marble kitchen floor, but warmth was the last thing she felt. The air was sterile, too clean—like the quiet after a storm. Ryan sat across the table, his jaw tight, fingers wrapped around a mug of coffee he hadn’t touched.She slid a plate of pancakes toward him with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I added blueberries. Your favorite.”He didn’t look up. Just stirred his coffee like it might give him answers she refused to say aloud.The silence between them had grown teeth lately—sharp, unforgiving. Grace knew he felt it. She just didn’t care. Not anymore.Not since Cain.Not since she’d tasted power, kissed danger, surrendered to something darker than marriage vows and mortgage payments.Her phone buzzed in the pocket of her robe. A single name lit up the screen. No emoji. No words. Just *Cain*.She muted the screen and turned back to Ryan with her sweetest voice.“You heading into the office today?”His eyes finally met hers—sus