Dodging A Bullet

Anita," her angelic voice calls to me. Thunder rumbles in the distance. Her soft, delicate hands caressing my face, sparkling green eyes grounding me from the dark past I wish I could forget. "You're safe, it's okay." I bring my hand up, running my finger over the mound of scar tissue. The constant reminder of that night. The raised bump covers the bullet fragment embedded in my sternum. She takes my hands as more thunder rumbles and tears roll down my cheeks. "Breathe Anita," she says in a soothing whisper. My lungs were burning with the need for air and it was then that I realized I'd been holding it. I take in a gasping breath and recall the first time my eyes met her green eyes. My sister had been lifted off me and my eyes opening had startled her. The first time she touched me gave me strength to hold on. I held her hand tight, trying to tell her what happened, but couldn't get enough breath to form words. Sitting in the present going through the same as I had five years ago. "They were all found, Anita. They can't hurt you anymore. It's just a storm. All the doors and windows are locked, the alarm is set. It's just you and me." "Will you keep the light on tonight, please?"

Elian Lanchester doesn’t need a bodyguard, he needs the world to stay out of his way. Cold, calculated, and impossible to touch, the tech billionaire has built an empire with his brain and burned bridges with his bite. But when a stalker’s threats become dangerously real, his board forces him to get a bodyguard. Unfortunately, they send Dax Reyes, a man Elian hates genuinely. Back in military university, Elian was the guy everyone idolised because of his riches while Dax was a scholarship student who swore to be a ruthless dedicated soldier. Dax is rugged, discreet and unshakably disciplined. The ex-military bodyguard is everything Elian despises and everything he can’t stop watching. Dax isn’t intimidated by Elian’s wealth or his venom. He’s unbothered in the face of provocation, even when the tension burning between them threatens to set the house on fire. But Dax has secrets of his own. He has a family, a past and a line he swore never to cross. When one kiss turns into something that can no longer be denied, Elian and Dax find themselves on the edge of something real and terrifying. Then a bullet changes everything. Desire turns to devastation. Lies twist into betrayal and just when Elian thinks he’s been used and discarded, he discovers the truth was never what it seemed. Now, it's a race against the silence they've both used as an armor. And this time, loving each other might be the most dangerous thing of all.

“I will never love you,” Anthony said with a determined look. However, the girl didn't care about his words. Regina still repaired a table full of beautiful dishes. Then, she took some food and put it in his mouth. His whole body relaxed and savored the satisfying sensation in his mouth. “I know. But can we enjoy the meal first? I have made your favorite food,” Regina blinked her moving eyes which made Anthony's heart a little unbearable. He gulped and sat down on the chair. “I love your food, not you,” Anthony began to take the meal while he was maintaining his harsh expression. Regina secretly smiled but she knew he wouldn't run away from her. ------------------------------------- Regina lived two human lives. In her first life, her family sold her to Anthony, the head of the Dominic mafia family. Regina and Anthony tormented each other until he accepted to let go of her hand. The good life was disrupted by the adultery and deception of her sister and her husband. Anthony was always waiting for Regina to return, but she ended up dying in his arms while taking the bullet for him. Reviving at the age of 17, Regina decided to change everything and accept being with Anthony. However, Anthony seemed to avoid Regina causing her to actively pursue him.

Luciano Salvatore 'The Bullet' was born, raised, and comes from a long family line of serial killers. But he wants nothing to do with that legacy. The block that has made it impossible for him to run away from all of it is his uncle, Don Mauro. The most powerful drug lord and a serial killer who had snapped a long time ago. Don Mauro promised to kill Luciano's remaining family to keep him in check. On his mother's death anniversary, Luciano tried to go against Don Mauro to make his mother proud by doing the right thing and trying to save a woman named Keirah from becoming his uncle's victim in his sex trade. Unfortunately for him, he fell in love with her at first sight. He finds out later that Don Mauro was not after Keirah for the sex trade, but Keirah is a biomedical engineer his uncle has been searching for. A person Don Mauro will do anything to possess. Succumbing to his heart's desire, even after Luciano finds out about this information. He tries to protect her in the only way he knows how. By kidnapping her and running away with her and his family out of the Mafia world. Setting them both on an expected path toward a love-and-hate relationship while discovering the hidden supernatural fate set upon them. What chances does Luciano have for survival and redemption while caught up in his unfamiliar feelings for Keirah?

"I should’ve killed him the night he betrayed me. Instead, I kept him alive — chained, bleeding, and trembling beneath my hands." Nicholas Rhodes, heir to the Rhodes crime syndicate, had everything: control, power, loyalty. Until him. Rafael “Rafe” Vega — the man he once trusted with his life — turned on him in the middle of a war, selling secrets to their rivals. But when fate forces their worlds to collide again, Nicholas doesn’t kill Rafe. He takes him back. As a captive. As a weapon. As a reminder of everything he lost. Hatred was supposed to keep them apart. Instead, it burns hotter than desire — twisting into something neither of them can name. Obsession becomes their language. Betrayal becomes their bond. And love… love is the bullet waiting in the chamber. Because in their world, love doesn’t save. It destroys. --- Main Characters: Nicholas Rhodes— 29 Cold, ruthless, born into blood and chaos. After Rafe’s betrayal, he’s become darker — quieter, crueler. He claims he feels nothing anymore… but Rafe’s name still tastes like venom and longing on his tongue. Rafael “Rafe” Vega — 26 Former hitman and Nicholas’s right hand, before he turned traitor. Charming, unpredictable, and carrying his own secrets. His betrayal wasn’t what it seemed — but he’d rather die than beg Nicholas to understand.

Divorced and remarried—I've lost count of how many times Aaron and I stepped in and out of marriage. He once treated me like something precious, but less than a year after our wedding, he asked for our first divorce. The reason was simple, Vivian was coming back. "Vivian's a public figure," he told me. "I don't want anyone thinking she's involved with a married man." That third-tier actress had nothing but her father's sacrifice to her name. He had taken a bullet for Aaron—a life for a life. And because of that, Aaron believed he owed her everything. Every time Vivian returned to the country, Aaron divorced me. And every time she left, we remarried. The first time we split, I drowned my tears in whiskey and stumbled back to his house half-drunk. The lights inside were warm. He was with her. And I stood outside, shivering through the night. The second time, I tracked his every move—restaurants, auctions, charity galas—just to "accidentally" run into him again. Later, I learned better. The moment he mentioned divorce, I would quietly pack my suitcase and disappear from his mansion. My love and humiliation kept me trapped in that endless cycle of breaking up and coming back together. But this time, when Aaron waited for me at City Hall to remarry, I never showed up.

"Lift your hand," I said looking at how he held onto his bicep with a tight grip. "Let me take a look at the bullet wound." "No tesoro. I can do this myself," Vittore grumbled and I gave him incredulous look. "Don't start that bullshit with me Vittore. Remove your arm and let me help you or..." I trailed off, not able to say more. I was still in shock but I could do this. "Just... just let me help." "No." I glared at Vittore. "Why are you being so damn egotistic?! Let me help you! Do you know what it was like to find you like... and to..." I couldn't even get all the words out. "Let me help you. Please." Begging wasn't something I'd ever do but I just needed him to let me help him. "No-" "Why?!" I suddenly exploded. "Why won't you just let me help you?!" "Because I don't know how to handle it ok?!" Vittore suddenly exploded, his dark eyes glaring at me. "I don't know how to handle these... feelings. Fuck tesoro you drive me crazy! Don't you see that? You make me question everything I've ever known and... I can't..." I watched Vittore as his expression turned determined. "Fuck it." He leaned forward and pressed his lips on mine.

**Evelyn Karamazov** I’ve spent all twenty-three years of my life immersed in the world of the mafia, groomed to rule with an iron fist. But power in our world doesn’t come without a price, and that price is marriage—a union built on strategy rather than so-called love. It’s the last thing I want, but in this life, sacrifices are the currency we trade in. And if I have to choose, I’ll sacrifice to the devil I know rather than the angel I don’t. But make no mistake, a sacrifice is still a sacrifice, and it demands its due. **Killian Bandini** Sixteen years—that’s how long I’ve waited to exact my revenge. Sixteen years to drown in nightmares, consumed by guilt and the unyielding desire to set things right. My father is dead, and now the Bandini empire is mine. The time has come to collect what is owed, and God help those who wronged me, because they will pay with blood. ★ What happens when the most lethal, most infuriating man to ever walk the earth crashes your wedding, puts a bullet in your would-be husband’s head, and holds everyone at gunpoint just to ensure you marry him instead? Killian Bandini doesn’t ask; he takes. But if he thinks I’m some meek bride to be bartered and controlled, he’s dead wrong. I may have to marry him, but I sure as hell won’t make it easy. He’s come for blood and power, but he doesn’t know that I’m not just a pawn—I’m a queen, and this game has only just begun.

I’d just wrapped up a short trip with my daughter, Elara. On the way back, I figured I’d swing by the Hale, our family’s casino, to check in on my son, Cassian. Maybe grab dinner together. I didn’t expect to be mistaken for his latest fling. Correction: not mistaken—accused. Violently. “You think you can just waltz in here like some queen?” she hissed. “I’m the woman Cassian loves! What kind of whore are you? And is this your bastard daughter with him?” She locked us in the basement. No phone. No light. Just concrete walls and the stench of mildew and madness. Then came the fists. She slapped me across the face—again and again—until my skin stung and my ears rang. When that didn’t satisfy her, she pulled a gun and aimed low. The bullet tore through my knee. I bit back a scream, shielding Elara with my body. “You need to die, whore,” she spat. One of her men hesitated, “We should at least tell Mr. Hale first. If we are going to kill these two in his casino.” Lila of course said no. But that man brought Cassian anyway. My son stepped into this dark little room like it was any other Tuesday—until he saw me. His whole body went still. The blood drained from his face. And then, in the smallest, most broken voice I’d ever heard from him, he whispered, “Mom? What are you doing in my basement?”

Marie, a young beautiful woman who just graduated from college departs back to her family, she belongs to a branch of the Genovesse family and she is to be the Heir of her Family, she goes home to meet her Father who she hadn't seen in over four years, along with her brother but soon after her arrival. A Mafia Lord shows up, Mancini proposes a meeting with Marie's Father, to discuss matters concerning the Family, while Maries waited for her aging father to finish his meeting, she hears gun shots from the room her father was in. In a rush, she carries some men and breaks down the door just to see her father bleeding to death, at the same time she sees her father, Marie's is also shot by Mancini's right hand man, in her confusion she sees her father dying before her, she was also dying but she didn't care about any of that, she struggled to reach her father and prayed for a chance to save her father, to fix all of this, to save her family, afterwards Marie dies of blood loss from bullet wounds to her chest. Marie later wakes up in a plane going back to her family's house, in her confusion, she realizes she had gone back in time, back to when she had finished college and was returning back home. Now that she knew what was going to happen, will Marie be able to change the future and save her family or will be unable to change the unmovable hand of fate?