
Between His Rules and My Heart
zubairsherifah500 · Completed · 110.1k Words
Introduction
Lucia Alvarez is a forensic accountant with a mind as sharp as a blade—and a heart carved hollow by loss. Five years ago, her beloved brother Miguel was pulled from the East River, his hands bound and lungs full of concrete. The official story? He betrayed the Di Santi family and paid the price. The truth? Buried with him at the bottom of the river.
Now, Lucia is back—not as a grieving sister, but as a weapon of quiet vengeance.
Under the guise of auditing the Di Santi family’s "legitimate" businesses, she infiltrates their empire. Her assignment is simple: play the role of the loyal number-cruncher. But her mission is far more dangerous—uncover the truth behind Miguel’s murder and bring the empire crashing down from within.
But nothing is simple when it comes to Adrian Di Santi.
He’s the heir to the empire—ruthless, magnetic, and hiding secrets behind a smile as cold as steel. Lucia thought she could keep her distance. Thought her heart was armored. But every encounter with Adrian chips away at her defenses—and blurs the lines between vengeance and desire.
As the walls close in and the stakes rise, Lucia must decide: how far is she willing to go for justice? And what will she do when the truth turns out to be darker—and deadlier—than she ever imagined?
Chapter 1
Lucia Alvarez
They say grief fades and time heals all wounds. But time has only sharpened mine into a weapon.
Five years.
Five years since my brother's body was pulled from the East River, his hands bound and lungs full of concrete.
Everyone ruled it a suicide but I never believed them.
It was a punishment. A cover-up.
And every day since then, I've lived with one purpose — get inside the Di Santi empire and destroy it from within.
I stood outside the tall glass building in midtown Manhattan, a trembling breath caught in my throat. The golden plaque read: Di Santi Holdings. A legitimate name but it was all a lie.
I pulled the collar of my coat higher and stepped inside.
The lobby was sleek — too sleek and everything a Mafia syndicate pretending to be corporate royalty should look like.
I wasn't here for the job. I was here for revenge.
"Miss Alvarez?" A woman with red lips and sharp heels approached. "Mr. Di Santi will see you now."
The name alone sent bile up my throat. Adrian Did Santi — heir to Di Santi empire. Cold-blooded and dangerous. I'd memorized his face in grainy newspaper cutouts, surveillance footage, and police files that never made it to trial.
And now... I'd see it in person.
As I followed the woman past the glass offices where silent watchers stood with heavy weapons, I felt the weight of every lie I was about to tell. My resume was fake, my name was barely mine.
The door to his office opened.
He was standing by the window, his back turned to me. And when he finally turned to look at me, I forgot how to breathe.
Adrian Di Santi looked like temptation. Dark suit. Darker eyes. And a gaze that cut through skin and bone.
"You're the new accountant?" His voice was venom wrapped in honey.
I nodded. "Lucia Alvarez."
He stared, like he was peeling me apart with his gaze layer by layer.
"I believe you know your job. I hate repeating myself." He growled, voice low and smooth.
I nodded, my jaw tight, "I know my job Mr. Di Santi."
He stared at me, his head tilted slightly as if listening to something only he could hear. And then, slowly, he said.
"Do you?"
He gestures to the seat in front of his desk, but I stay standing.
"You came highly recommended," he continued, reading from a file I knew was fake. "Fluent in four languages. Clean record. You could work anywhere. So why here?"
I met his gaze without blinking. "I love this company and I believe it needs skills like mine."
He smiled, one that didn't reach his eyes. The kind you saw when standing before a predator.
"I think you'll fit in just fine."
He closed the file and walked around the desk, stopping inches from me. I could feel the heat emanating from him, the scent of his cologne — Musk and vanilla, the weight of his stare, the pressure building in my chest like a ticking bomb.
"Tell me, Lucia..." He said my name slowly, like he was tasting it, testing how it sounded in his mouth. "Are you worthy of being trusted?"
I didn't answer.
Because no — I wasn't. I only came for revenge.
And yet... At that moment, with his breath brushing my cheek, I felt like giving up.
"You'll start immediately," he said, stepping back. "Report to Elsa for your credentials. And Lucia?"
"Yes?"
He looked at me like he could see through the secrets and lies.
"Don't think of playing games with me. Ever."
I nodded, my throat tight. "Understood."
He turned away, dismissing me without another word. I walked to the elevator like my legs were made of lead.
Only when the doors closed due I exhaled.
Downstairs, Elsa handed me a key card and a sleek phone. "Everything's tracked. Don't lose it. Your desk is in the private suite. You'll be working in Mr. Di Santi's shadow."
A chill ran down my spine. I was really playing a deadly game.
"Welcome to the family," she said without smiling.
That night, I returned to the apartment they'd provided. White. Clean. It reeked of luxury.
I pulled out the old box I kept hidden in my suitcase.
Inside were my brother's watch, still stained with his blood which had turned dark brown. A photo of us from when we were kids and the journal.
His journal. The one that started it all. Pages filled with cryptic notes, strange dates, and one name scrawled again and again: Di Santi.
I opened it to the last entry.
"They promised me protection. I believed them. If anything happens to me, it wasn't an accident."
I closed the journal with a sigh, my mind reeling from different thoughts.
Now working Fri the man who killed him — or worse, the man my brother might have willingly died for.
That was the question that haunted me. The thing I'd never been able to prove.
Was Miguel a victim... Or a traitor?
A soft ping pulled me from my thoughts.
An encrypted message flashed across the burner phone hidden in the lining of my suitcase — the one Elsa gave to me earlier.
Unknown: You made it in. Good. We'll be watching. He doesn't trust easily.
Neither do I.
I typed one word back; Understood.
Then I locked the phone, closed the box, and stared out the window at the city.
Tomorrow, I'll return to Di Santi's side. Smile. Nod. Play the game.
But someday soon...
I'd bring his empire to its knees. Even if it meant burning myself with it.
Last Chapters
#79 Chapter 79
Last Updated: 3/2/2026#78 Chapter 78
Last Updated: 3/2/2026#77 Chapter 77
Last Updated: 3/2/2026#76 Chapter 76
Last Updated: 3/2/2026#75 Chapter 75
Last Updated: 3/2/2026#74 Chapter 74
Last Updated: 3/2/2026#73 Chapter 73
Last Updated: 3/2/2026#72 Chapter 72
Last Updated: 3/2/2026#71 Chapter 71
Last Updated: 3/2/2026#70 Chapter 70
Last Updated: 3/2/2026
You Might Like 😍
The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates
"Let me go," I whimper, my body trembling with need. "I don't want you touching me."
I fall forward onto the bed then turn around to stare at him. The dark tattoos of Domonic's chiseled shoulders, quiver and and expand with the heave of his chest. His deep dimpled smile is full of arrogance as he reaches behind himself to lock the door.
Biting his lip, he stalks toward me, his hand going to the seam of his pants and the thickening bulge there.
"Are you sure you don't want me to touch you?" He whispers, untying the knot and slipping a hand inside. "Because I swear to God, that is all I have been wanting to do. Every single day from the moment you stepped in our bar and I smelled your perfect flavor from across the room."
New to the world of shifters, Draven is human on the run. A beautiful girl who no one could protect. Domonic is the cold Alpha of the Red Wolf Pack. A brotherhood of twelve wolves that live by twelve rules. Rules which they vowed could NEVER be broken.
Especially - Rule Number One - No Mates
When Draven meets Domonic, he knows that she is his mate, but Draven has no idea what a mate is, only that she has fallen in love with a shifter. An Alpha that will break her heart to make her leave. Promising herself, she will never forgive him, she disappears.
But she doesn’t know about the child she’s carrying or that the moment she left, Domonic decided rules were made to be broken - and now will he ever find her again? Will she forgive him?
The Billionaire's Mask (A Dark Steamy Romance)
The Rejected White Luna
"No... You can't do that."
Those words shattered Aria's world in front of the entire pack.
As the daughter of the Alpha of Silver Moon Pack, Aria was born with a powerful legacy. But with a weak wolf that could never shift, she became a disappointment in the eyes of her own people. She was mocked, ignored, and treated as a weakness instead of the future Luna she was meant to be.
She believed finding her fated mate would finally change everything.
Until Kael rejected her publicly and chose another.
"Because a mate who cannot shift is no mate at all. She's a weakness. And weakness spreads."
Broken but refusing to surrender, Aria leaves the only home she has ever known. But fate has a different plan waiting for her.
When she crosses paths with another powerful pack, Aria discovers a shocking truth: she has been given a second chance mate. The only problem? She never expected him to be someone who could change her entire destiny.
With a new bond awakening hidden powers within her, Aria is no longer the weak wolf everyone looked down on.
Now she has the chance to make those who hurt her pay.
But when Kael realizes the woman he rejected has become the one person he cannot lose, he wants her back.
Will Aria choose revenge, or will she find a love greater than the betrayal that destroyed her?
A pack of their own
Let Them Kneel
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.
But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.
Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.
When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.
For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.
Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.
But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.
And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.
Especially him.
She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.
Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.
Iron And Glamour Just Don't Mix
Well… Sometimes you just might turn out to be right.
It turns out, the fae stole my little brother. In his place? A pixie with boundary issues and a talent for home repairs.
I’ve spent my life taking care of everyone else. So when my baby brother is taken, I don’t hesitate. I walk straight into a faerie mansion and make a bargain with its infuriatingly charming master.
Kie is everything you’d expect from a dangerous fae, beautiful, political, and entirely too amused by me. Power wrapped in a smirk. Sensual, mischievous, and far too aware of the effect he has on people. He agrees to help me find my brother.
For a price.
Now I’m bound by a faerie bargain and navigating a world of glamour, manipulation, and ancient rules I definitely should have learned sooner, enchanted forests, political games, magical contracts, and a fae lord who treats seduction like a perfectly reasonable negotiation tactic.
Iron is how I keep people out.
Glamour is how he draws them in.
And apparently, they just don’t mix.
Oops. My Boss Was Seventeen
The Execution: Perfect. I brought him coffee, cheered at his games, and basically operated as his unpaid teenage executive assistant. He’s totally buying it.
The Problem: I was trying to network my way into the C-suite. I think I just networked my way into his bed.
The Princess's Revenge
Alpha Logan is an illegitimate son whose mother disappeared when he was 10 years old. He grew up suffering from humiliation and lacking maternal love.
Alpha Logan saves Valencia at Marcus's funeral, which seems to be destined by fate—part of the Moon Goddess's grand plan.
As Valencia accidentally discovers prophecies in Logan's mother's diary that seem to be related to her, the truth gradually surfaces. Valencia appears to be merely a tool in a princess's revenge plot. How will Logan and Valencia navigate their path amid the national war and pack politics?
Accardi
“I thought you said you were done chasing me?” Gen mocked.
“I am done chasing you.”
Before she could formulate a witty remark, Matteo threw her down. She landed hard on her back atop his dining room table. She tried to sit up when she noticed what he was doing. His hands were working on his belt. It came free of his pants with a violent yank. She collapsed back on her elbows, her mouth gaping open at the display. His face was a mask of sheer determination, his eyes were a dark gold swimming with heat and desire. His hands wrapped around her thighs and pulled her to the edge of the table. He glided his fingers up her thighs and hooked several around the inside of her panties. His knuckles brushed her dripping sex.
“You’re soaking wet, Genevieve. Tell me, was it me that made you this way or him?” his voice told her to be careful with her answer. His knuckles slid down through her folds and she threw her head back as she moaned. “Weakness?”
“You…” she breathed.
Genevieve loses a bet she can’t afford to pay. In a compromise, she agrees to convince any man her opponent chooses to go home with her that night. What she doesn’t realize when her sister’s friend points out the brooding man sitting alone at the bar, is that man won’t be okay with just one night with her. No, Matteo Accardi, Don of one of the largest gangs in New York City doesn’t do one night stands. Not with her anyway.
From Substitute To Queen
Heartbroken, Sable discovered Darrell having sex with his ex in their bed, while secretly transferring hundreds of thousands to support that woman.
Even worse was overhearing Darrell laugh to his friends: "She's useful—obedient, doesn't cause trouble, handles housework, and I can fuck her whenever I need relief. She's basically a live-in maid with benefits." He made crude thrusting gestures, sending his friends into laughter.
In despair, Sable left, reclaimed her true identity, and married her childhood neighbor—Lycan King Caelan, nine years her senior and her fated mate. Now Darrell desperately tries to win her back. How will her revenge unfold?
From substitute to queen—her revenge has just begun!
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother
"What is wrong with me?
Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?
It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.
He’s my boyfirend’s brother.
This is Tyler’s family.
I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.
**
As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.
Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.
When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.
I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.
**
I hate girls like her.
Entitled.
Delicate.
And still—
Still.
The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.
Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.
I shouldn’t care.
I don’t care.
It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.
It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.
I’m not here to rescue anyone.
Especially not her.
Especially not someone like her.
She’s not my problem.
And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.
But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.












