City Of Dreams Don Winslow

"Hatred is still an emotion, sweetheart," I murmured, stepping closer. "That means you still care." Forced into a marriage with the man who despises her family, Isla vows to resist him. But Dante is a man who always gets what he wants, and what he wants… is her. As secrets unravel and enemies close in, Serena finds herself trapped in a dangerous game of power, revenge, and an undeniable attraction she can't escape. Because in Dante’s world, love isn’t gentle. It’s a war. And Serena is about to learn—when the Don wants something, he takes it.

Starting with a boy named Daffa Setyawan who is constantly bullied, he unexpectedly gains a system power to eliminate the bullies at his school. However, instead of just targeting the bullies, he inadvertently attracts the attention of all the gangs in the city, making himself the hunted. Will he succeed in conquering both the school and the city, and be able to control the situation?

Rachel has just started her junior year of high school and already wants a do-over. She decides to transfer to Pacific High, the rival school she started with. Rachel is looking for a high school experience unlike the 'typical' Lifetime-esque one, and she ends up finding much more than she anticipated. Pacific seems to be a school with endless possibilities, and unfortunately some of these are darker than anyone expect. Juggling her feelings for two love interests, Rachel must navigate life with a total creep with a disturbing obsession for her, a mysterious stalker, magic users and werewolves in a human world, alongside restless nights plagued by nightmares.

Luciano moved closer, closing the gap between them. An expressionless glare hardened his features as his rough hand clamped around her jaw, forcing her face up to meet his dreadful gaze. "Your husband sold you to me. I gave you the freedom you always wanted, yet somehow you ended up in my arms again." "I'm not one of those useless women who crawl back to you," she spat, ignoring the way his grip tightened on her jaw. "I despise you with everything inside me." "I bought you for seventy billion dollars," he said coldly. "If you can afford to give me back the money, I'll have no reason to deny you the freedom you want so badly. "But if you can't, you'll continue to serve me—" His lips curved into a cruel smile. "As my personal toy and plaything." \* \* \* Abandoned as a child and raised in an orphanage, she learned early that love never lasted. Years later, the same parents returned — not for her, but for their debt. To settle it, they handed her over to Davin, the man who became her husband. Just when she thought she was finally happy, everything ended. An evening after her birthday, her husband was shot dead. The man who pulled the trigger was her boss — Frederick Hayden. Until she discovered that everything happening to her from the very beginning was tied to him.

On the night of my wedding, my husband, the Don, kissed my trembling body while telling me not to be afraid. However, the next second, he personally handed me off to 30 men. "Your virginity is theirs for five million per person." I screamed when I woke up from the dream. Fortunately, it was just a nightmare. But on the day of our wedding, I saw a man with a scar on his face sitting next to the stage. He was one of the men from my dream. I accidentally heard him talking on the phone, "That's five million well spent. I can't wait to take her to bed." As I turned to make my escape, I heard the footsteps behind me getting nearer. My phone suddenly rang, and it was Owen Thorne calling me. "We're coming for you, honey."

Have you ever had the same dream so often that it starts to blur into reality? The same man. The same scent. The same fire, except every night, it’s a different position, a different fantasy… and by morning, it all slips away. That has been my life for weeks, until everything changed. Just when I thought I could finally get over the stranger in my dreams, I convinced myself that my new boss might be the distraction I needed. A way out of my sex-starved world of fantasies. Then he walked in. Hotter than my imagination ever allowed. Sharper. Darker. Dangerous. And with one look, I knew. It was him. The man who owned my nights. But who was he? And why was he suddenly here in my reality? “I own this place,” he growled, his deep voice making my knees weak as his grip tightened around my wrist. “I own this motherfucker you call a boss… and I own you too.” His black eyes locked on mine, dark and unreadable. “So you better start walking before I take you right here and now.” He meant every word. He dragged me out with him, and everything I thought I knew cracked open. Was this the beginning of my love story with the man they called the Mafia Boss? Were my dreams finally becoming real? But with constant gunshots, threats, and attempted abductions… I’m starting to realize this might not be the fairytale I imagined. And my life may never go back to normal. Not ever again. But I don’t seem to mind anymore.

Dante Moretti was born into power but never wanted it. The heir to Italy’s most feared mafia family, he learned early that love is a weakness and loyalty is bought in blood. Until her. Victoria Hale bright, innocent, and hopelessly out of his reach. She was the one thing pure in his dark world, the girl who made him believe he could be more than his father’s monster. But when his family discovered their love , Dante was forced to vanish overnight, leaving her heart shattered to protect her life. Five years later, Dante is no longer the boy she loved. He’s the Don; cold, ruthless, untouchable. And she… she’s about to marry his former best friend. Until the church doors burst open. Until the gunfire silences the vows. Until the devil she thought was gone drags her back into his world and whispers, “You remember who you belong to.” Now, trapped between the man she once loved and the man she was about to marry, Victoria must navigate a world of danger, obsession, and forbidden desire. Because loving Dante Moretti was never safe. But surviving him might be impossible.

Riley has spent her life surviving, working late nights, loving a man who never quite chooses her, and holding together a future that keeps slipping through her fingers. When a stranger breaks into her apartment with a message meant for her boyfriend, Riley learns a truth Matteo never told her. His father is alive and present in his life. Powerful. And done waiting. Lorenzo Romano is a man who commands loyalty, fear, and obedience. He offers protection, stability, and a place in a world Riley was never meant to enter. All he asks in return is trust and time. As Matteo struggles to prove himself and Riley finds herself drawn deeper into the Don’s household, lines begin to blur. In a world ruled by power, loyalty is currency and love may be the most dangerous bargain of all.

Everyone said my good looks were what saved me from my family's downfall. It was how I managed to become a Donna. I was the only one who knew why he had to compromise to marry me. Xavier Whitmore, the tall and handsome Don, was unable to have physical relationships with a woman. When I shyly took off the gown on our wedding night, he sat in his chair and lit a cigarette before remarking in an icy voice, "I'm allergic to women. That said, you have my word that you will be the only woman in my life." He kept his promise. Though he never so much as touched me in the five years of our marriage, he provided me with a life of luxury and wealth. Although it was merely a title, being his only woman brought me happiness. Everything changed on the day my men and I were ambushed by a rival mafia family. We barely made it out alive. When I returned home, I found him locked in a tight embrace with his widowed sister-in-law, Alice Ortega. "Alice, I won't let you remarry. If you do, I'll make sure that man dies a thousand deaths." I scoffed. It wasn't so much that he couldn't handle being physical with a woman. It was simply that he could not be physical with anyone but her. In that case, she could have the pleasure of being the Donna.

I met him in a place no sane woman should ever be in Blackgate Prison. As a prison therapist, I was trained to see danger. Every part of me screamed to stay away, but I couldn’t. He was a legend behind bars, Nikolai Sokolov, ruthless, untouchable, the leader of one of Russia’s most feared Mafia syndicates. Darkness clung to him like a second skin. The dim light carved his face into something sharp and dangerous. He looked at me, cold and unreadable, and held me in place with his gaze. “Who are you?” His voice was rough, heavy with threats and scars I couldn’t see. I forced a smile, trying to keep my voice steady. And yet… a part of me felt at home in this danger, a shadow inside I had never admitted, one that hummed quietly at his presence. It was darkness like his, though he couldn’t know it. “I’m Dr. Korovin. I’m here to evaluate you.” The chains rattled as he shifted, a predator testing the limits of his cage. His lips curved, not into a smile, but into a warning. “My name is Nikolai,” he said slowly, deliberately, heavy with threat. “Remember it, Doctor.” I should have been scared. I should have run. But something inside me stirred, something dark, like him, and I didn’t yet understand it.