Romans & histoires Douglas Bullet

**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.

Accused of stealing recipes from my own sister, Cora, I was ruthlessly cast out from the healing center—by my own fated mate, the Alpha Kellan. So I came home to my grandma's herb farm. Riding my wild horse, Shadow, wherever the hell we want to go. But now the whole pack is scrambling to find me. In my past life, at the Alliance's Grand Potion Competition, my sister always managed to submit the exact same rare potion recipes as me, just a little bit earlier. They all called me a shameless thief, a plagiarist who stole my own sister's work. Even my own parents got on stage to vouch for her. And Kellan... he threw the exile order in my face. His eyes were ice. He stripped me of my title for "dishonoring the pack" and shattered our mate bond right in front of everyone. The agony tore my soul apart. I wanted to die. My family called me a disgrace and cast me out. The betrayal shattered my wolf. I lost my mind. In the end, one of her fanatics shot me dead in the street. A silver bullet laced with wolfsbane. As I died, I still couldn't understand how she could get inside my head and steal my recipes. Then I opened my eyes. I was back. The day before the competition. This time, my mind is filled with nothing but the wild. Let's see what kind of potion my 'genius' sister can come up with now.

Adrian Cole thought he had hit the big time when world-famous sensation Damian Knight asked him to tour as the opener for his world tour. But just as his dreams were in reach, one phone call wrecked his future—he was accused of plagiarizing the songs of other people, branded a thief, and discarded. On the walk home from the recording studio, Adrian was ambushed, struck by a car, and arrested on false drug charges, betrayed by the person he most trusted: his husband, Ethan Cross. After being blinded, silenced, and forgotten, Adrian spends years behind bars until Sebastian Cross, Ethan's estranged younger brother, shows up as a messiah in the most unlikely of ways. Sebastian rescues Adrian, gives him a new identity, and sets him on the path to retribution using his wealth, power, and personal hidden agendas. Adrian's rage increases as he learns more lies, such as the fact that his former best friend Marcus Hale killed him to atone for their transgressions, that Ethan and Marcus were lovers in the closet, and that Marcus stole his music and called him a bully. But revenge comes at a cost. When Ethan finds Adrian still alive, an intense battle leaves Sebastian injured by a bullet meant for Adrian. Pinned down by love and loyalty, Adrian inherits Sebastian's business as he gets his own life back as a musician. They navigate betrayal, lying, and phantoms of the past. Adrian not only clears his name but also discovers love that eclipses the one which had nearly killed him.

I took a bullet for my boyfriend, Leo. When I woke up, I decided to play a little game. I told him I had amnesia. I wanted to see what he'd do. Instead, I saw a flash of excitement in his eyes. Next thing I know, he brings in his cousin. Dante. The Don of the family. "This is your fiancé, Dante. You've been engaged for two years." Dante. The man who supposedly hated me. Now he was staring at me like I was his whole world. "Yes," he said. "I'm your fiancé." Fine. I'll play along. I need to know what game Leo is playing. That night, I saw it. Security footage in Dante's mansion. Leo, in bed with another woman. He kissed her like he was starving. Pushed inside her. And he talked trash about me. "Let my cousin watch Bella for a while. She's so damn needy. You're what I really need, Scarlett." My heart shattered. He pawned me off on another man. Just so he could screw around. Fine. Two can play at that game. I'll get myself a new fiancé. I put on the wedding dress. I kissed Dante—a deep, devouring kiss, right in front of Leo. And that's when he finally broke. He lost his mind. Told me he was wrong and begged me to come back.

The Vale family was the most powerful mafia syndicate in the New York City. And I—along with a few other carefully chosen girls—had been handpicked to join their ranks, trained from the ground up so that the next head of the family could choose his wife from among us. Wife. That was the kinder word for it. The truth was whoever got picked would become his shield, his weapon, his most loyal protector. Someone who would kill for him. Die for him. Years passed. One by one, the others fell away. In the end, only Elara Quinn and I remained. And then, Elara died—killed on a secret mission. After that, there were no more choices left. I became Adrian Vale’s wife by default. I had given everything to Adrian. And I loved him. I thought he loved me too until I took a bullet to the chest—meant for him. As I lay there, barely breathing, I heard Adrian talking to his assistant, “Don’t bury her in the Vale cemetery. My half is reserved for Elara.” That was it. Elara—who had never even lived long enough to marry him—still had a space carved beside him in death. I? I had taken the hit that should have ended him… and yet I wasn’t even good enough to be buried near him. I slowly closed my eyes. And when I opened them again, I was back on the day the Vale family formally announced Adrian as their new head. The day everything began.

In the Santoro family, there was one rule: the heir marries a daughter from another powerful Family. But Alessio Santoro was crazy. He wanted to marry me, a nobody from a flower shop. He knelt in the family chapel for ten days straight. He even took a bullet fired by his own father, the Don. All just to walk away from his title and run away with me. I held him, crying, begging him to stop. He just smiled and kissed my eyes, wiping my tears. "Don't cry, Thea. As long as I can marry you, it's all worth it." In the end, the Santoros relented. But they had one condition: Alessio would still produce the next heir. Just not with me. He had to have a son with Aurelia Rossi. So I endured. I endured listening to them through the wall, night after agonizing night. I endured the smell of her perfume on his skin, the sight of her marks on his neck every time he kissed me. A year later, Aurelia got pregnant. It was a girl. Alessio begged me, his eyes red. "Just a little longer, Thea." So I waited another year. Finally, news came. Aurelia was pregnant with a boy. I thought we could finally leave, finally be free. But then disaster struck. Aurelia’s daughter had a sudden, violent allergic reaction. Everyone blamed me. They threw me in the cellar and left me to die. And Alessio? He believed them. This time, I was the one who gave up. I walked away from everything.

Tied to a chair, it scraped against the concrete as Victor struggled. "Damn it, lady, I’ll give you this—you’ve got balls that even some men lack." he smiled, blood dripping from his mouth. Celestina pulled back the slide, the metallic click echoing in the quiet room as a bullet locked into place, ready to fire. She Pressed the gun to his head, "Are those your last words?" she asked coldly. ....................... How do you find peace when you're married to chaos itself? You don't. You become chaos. What would you do if your husband who murdered you and slaughtered your family proposed marriage again, and didn't recognize you? For Aria D'Amore, the answer is simple: marry him again, and make him pay for every drop of blood. When Aria is forced into a peace-treaty marriage with her family's enemy, she believes the war is over. Instead, Dante Vallenis uses their wedding celebration to massacre every D'Amore, making her watch before ordering her execution. She survives, barely, and "dies" in the eyes of the world. Eight years later, she returns as Celestina Vale, the mysterious Mistress of The Graveyard, an underground network that controls the Italian mafia through secrets and assassinations. When she manipulates her way into marrying Dante again, he doesn't recognize the stranger he's obsessed with controlling. But as she systematically destroys his empire from within, she falls for his uncle, the one man who tried to save her that night, and the one man who harbors a secret that could shatter everything she's built. So what will it be, love or revenge?

“We need help,” The man supporting the other up said roughly, voice strained like he’d been screaming. “Are you a doctor?.” He hefted the slumped man up and said, “He’s been shot.” “Y-yes,” Gianna managed to choke out, but she had to lean on a nearby wall as she saw the gun. And it was aimed at her. The third man, snapped out, “You save him. Now.” “The clinic isn’t--” “Now!” The man thundered, gesturing down to the gun. “Or I’m not going to be heartbroken about emptying a bullet into you.” *** *** Their worlds were never meant to collide. He was the boss of the Mariposa Mafia after all, he was ruthless, insane, cunning, the shadow king of the underground… he had no time for love. But somehow that all changes the first time Dante laid his eyes on the beautiful doctor coerced with a gun to her head to save their boss’s life. For Gianna, the rules for being a doctor in gang territory were simple: keep her clinic open at all costs, treat her patients with care, watch out for her rebellious little brother, Giovanni, and most of all, avoid the thugs. The last thing she expected was to get caught up in a gang war, or to find herself falling for Mariposa’s leader himself, Ferrari Dante. And in a world where rules are everything, sometimes breaking them can mean the end of everything, like helping Dante. That is, if her heart doesn't kill her first. Dante never fathomed he would... care, so much about her, about anyone. Or maybe it’s deeper than just caring as Gianni shows him a whole new perspective to the world. .

Whispers in the underworld mentioned that Jason Marino, heir to the Family with its hands in the cross-continental arms trade, supposedly loved women with slim waists. Since his recent return to the country, his eyes had landed on Sonia Stewart—sworn sister to my fiancé, Andy Black. When Andy found out, he disappeared for three whole days. I finally tracked him down in the Family's club, only to overhear a conversation that shattered my world. "I'm not just going to stand by and watch Sonia marry that playboy Jason," Andy was telling his lieutenant. "On the wedding day, you need to swap Sonia's wedding car with Leona's. No one must find out!" His lieutenant thumped his chest, swearing, "No problem, boss! I'll get it done. But... What about your fiancee, Leona?" Andy let out a confident laugh, as if he were in control of everything. "I'm the Don's hand-picked Consigliere. Jason knows Leona belongs to me, so he won't lay a finger on her. Once I've slept with Sonia, he'll have to give up on her. After that, we'll just send someone to pick Leona up. She won't suspect a thing. Instead, she'll be scared and trembling… Pathetic but adorable nonetheless. She'll come running right back to my arms!" Every word was like a bullet leaving holes in my heart, every tone tearing it apart. I stumbled away as fast as I could, praying they wouldn't hear the sound of my heart breaking. When Andy tried to pick me up according to his plan later on, he broke down.

Daphne lili Thorne is nineteen and angry enough to burn the world down. When her family forces her into a marriage she never agreed to, she refuses to play the role of the quiet, grateful wife. She wasn’t raised to submit and she definitely wasn’t raised to belong to a stranger. Adrian Smith is twenty four and used to control. The marriage is nothing more than strategy to him, a move on a board he’s been winning on his whole life. Daphne is supposed to be easy,Predictable,Temporary. She isn’t. On their wedding night, Daphne points a gun at her new husband, her hands shaking but her resolve unbroken. “Put it down,” Adrian says calmly, still dressed in his wedding suit. “Go to hell,” she snaps, gripping the fabric of her dress as she keeps the gun aimed at him. She pulls the trigger. The bullet misses on purpose cutting close enough to leave his ear burning. Adrian doesn’t move. He just looks at her, something dark and dangerous flickering behind his eyes. For the first time, he realizes this marriage won’t be easy. And Daphne realizes something worse he’s not afraid of her at all. What begins as a power struggle turns into something neither of them expected. Beneath Adrian’s cruelty is a man shaped by violence and loss. Beneath Daphne’s fire is a girl who has already survived her own kind of hell. They are not meant to save each other. But somehow, they become the only thing that makes sense in a world built on control, loyalty, and blood. Because even monsters were once human. And even angels can come from broken places.