
Introduction
Candlelight. Steam curling over marble baths. Her body trapped between silk sheets and a man who owns her life. Matteo Russo’s hands are ruthless, possessive—claiming, testing, reminding her who holds the power. Desire burns sharp and dangerous, turning hatred into something filthy and irresistible.
Lila Moreno was kidnapped to pay her father’s $3 million betrayal.
A Palermo nightclub dancer dragged into a forced marriage with Sicily’s most feared mafia don.
She swore she’d kill him.
By day, she plots. Steals secrets. Turns allies against each other. Seduces rivals just to watch them fall. By night, their war turns physical—control versus defiance, rage colliding with need. Every touch is a challenge. Every kiss tastes like violence and surrender all at once.
Then the explosions start.
Bombs ticking down. Enemies closing in. Bodies pressed together while death waits outside the door. Passion becomes reckless. Addictive. Impossible to stop.
The truth shatters everything—her father once saved Matteo’s life. A rival family plans his execution. And Lila is carrying his twins.
When Matteo falls into a coma, the captive takes the throne.
Lila orders bloodshed. Executes traitors. Rules the empire meant to destroy her.
She was taken as a debt.
She stayed for power.
And now, she owns both the man who broke her…
and the mafia that will burn for her.
Chapter 1
Lila POV
I woke up to pain in my wrists and a the smell of gun oil and sea salt. My own black lace scarf, the one I wore on stage at Club Nero, was stuffed between my teeth. It tasted like sweat and my cheap perfume.
I lay on my back on a big bed, silk sheets under me, cool and slippery. My arms were pulled up and tied to the headboard with red silk ropes. It was tight, not enough to cut skin, but enough to burn when I moved. My legs were free, but my dancer heels were gone, my fishnet stockings ripped at the knees. The short black bodysuit I danced in clung to me, sticky with dried sweat.
Moonlight peered through tall open windows as the white curtains moved in the wind. I could hear waves crashing from a distance. When I tugged at the ropes, I heard a slight crack in my shoulders but the knots didn’t move. Whoever tied them knew what they were doing. I tried to scream but only a muffled grunt came out.
The room was huge, decorated with marble floor, gold lamps on the walls, a fireplace, paintings of ships and storms. My blurry eyes searched the room, then I found two. One carved wooden door and a glass door leading to the balcony. Both were closed.
Then the footsteps came slowly from the hallway and the wooden door opened. A man walked in, tall and broad shouldered. His liked shirt hugged his muscles and was unbuttoned all the way to the waist, exposing his wild traditional tattoos, his hair messy like he had been in a fight. Then a thick scar cut straight through his chest.
He stopped at the foot of the bed, his eyes locked on mine.
“You’re awake,” he said. His voice low and rough, with a thick Sicilian thick. “Good. We have a wedding to plan.”
I shook my head fast and the scarf slipped a little so I spat it out and it fell wet on my chest.
“Who the hell are you?” My voice cracked. I hated that it did.
He smiled slowly. “Matteo Russo.”
The name hit me like a slap. Russo. The Russo cartel. He was always associated with drugs and bodies in the harbour. Everyone in Palermo whispered it.
I pulled at the ropes again. “Let me go.”
“No.” He stepped closer and sat on the edge of the bed.
He reached out, pressing his thumb on my neck, right on the pulse. “Your father stole Three million from me and he ran. You will have to repay the debt.” He smirked.
My Dad. Enzo Moreno. I hadn’t seen him in six months. Last time, he packed cash in our tiny apartment and kissed my forehead. “This will keep you safe, Lila.” Then he was gone.
I swallowed. “I don’t have your money.”
“True. But you have you.” His thumb slid to my bottom lip. Pulling it down slowly. “Your body, blood, name... all mine now.”
I bit his thumb so hard that his blood filled my mouth, but he didn’t move or blink. He just watched me, then laughed out loud. “Fight all you want, piccola fiamma. My little flame. You’ll wear my ring at dawn.”
He stood and walked to a table and poured red wine into a glass, his eyes never leaving me as he drank.
I twisted my wrists, the silk cutting deeper. “My sister. Sofia. If you touch her...”
“I won’t.” He set the glass down. “If you behave.”
He pulled out an old worn leather book from his back pocket and tossed it on the bed beside m, then I turned my head to see my dad’s handwriting. I saw numbers, dates, three million euros, Russo cartel and a red thumbprint at the bottom. Dad’s thumbprint. My stomach turned.
“He signed in blood,” Matteo said. “His word were his debt.”
I kicked at him and my foot hit the book, sending it to the floor, but he didn’t flinch.
“You try to run,” he said, “I find Sofia. You try to kill me, I kill your father. You scream, I gag you again. You behave…” He leaned over me. His face inches from mine, his breath warm with wine and smoke. “You live. Maybe you’ll even like it.”
I hated the heat that crawled up my neck when he came close. Hate, not want. I would never want him... or so I thought.
He straightened and walked to the balcony, looking out at the sea. The moonlight casting his shadow long across the floor.
I studied him for a few seconds. He has more scars on his hands and neck, maybe even his back, from knife, bullet burn... he wasn’t soft like the men who watched me dance. This one killed.
I pulled at the ropes again, quietly this time and my left wrist slipped a bit. The silk was smooth, maybe if I twisted...
He turned and caught me. “Don’t.” Just one final order.
He walked back and knelt beside the bed and his hand moved to my hip, finding the old scar there from a stage fall when I was nineteen.
His thumb traced it slowly like he owned it. “Every mark,” he growled. “Every curve. Mine.”
I jerked away, the headboard creaking. He smiled again. “Sleep. Dawn is soon.”
Then he walked away and I was alone again.
I lay still in the silence, listening to the waves, the wind and my heart beating hard against my ribs.
I thought of Sofia, she was just nineteen and innocent. If I ran, he’d find her and if I fought, Dad would die. I needed to play smart.
I twisted my wrist again slowly this time and the silk loosened just a little.
Suddenly, I heard gunshots. Pop. Pop. Pop. It came from away, down the cliff.
Matteo’s door flew open somewhere in the hall and boots on marched on the marble floor. Then I heard shouts in Italian. There were more gunshots, closer this time.
A window shattered downstairs, then everywhere went silent again. I pulled harder and the left rope slipped, freeing my hand.
I froze again and listened, then I heard footsteps running towards my room. The door swung open and Matteo stood there with a gun in hand and blood on his cheek. I knew it wasn’t his.
“Someone wants you dead,” he said. “Or me.”
He looked at my free hand, narrowing his eyes. “Looks like the wedding just got interesting.”
He stepped in, closed the door, locked it and then smiled.
Last Chapters
#89 Chapter 89 Chapter Eighty Nine
Last Updated: 5/6/2026#88 Chapter 88 Chapter Eighty Eight
Last Updated: 5/6/2026#87 Chapter 87 Chapter Eighty Seven
Last Updated: 5/6/2026#86 Chapter 86 Chapter Eighty Six
Last Updated: 5/6/2026#85 Chapter 85 Chapter eighty five
Last Updated: 5/6/2026#84 Chapter 84 Chapter Eighty Four
Last Updated: 5/6/2026#83 Chapter 83 Chapter eighty three
Last Updated: 5/6/2026#82 Chapter 82 Chapter Eighty Two
Last Updated: 5/6/2026#81 Chapter 81 Chapter Eighty One
Last Updated: 5/6/2026#80 Chapter 80 Chapter eighty
Last Updated: 5/6/2026
You Might Like 😍
Bella and Her Beast
.
Locked in her frozen tower, Bella dreamed of warmth, of touch, of freedom and of love. Cursed with the power of ice and snow, she’s spent her life alone. A secret they tried to protect the world from. Her only escape comes in the form of the books she reads. Stories of heat, desire, and the kind of love that could melt even her frostbitten heart.
Damien is the Beast. A dragon King with a temper forged in flame and a soul hollowed by duty. The world fears him. The people call him a monster. But beneath the scales and the rage lies a man who has never been touched by love.
When frost meets fire, the world shatters. She was never meant to leave her tower. He was never meant to find her. But destiny doesn’t bow to kings or care for cages and now the question burns through them both: Can Bella have her Beast? Or will the girl of snow melt in the heat of his desire?
.
"I’m keeping her."
"What?"
Before I can react, he scoops her up. Her small body fits easily in the cradle of his talons. For a split second, she looks startled, but not afraid. Her hand rests against one scaled finger, and she stares up at him with that same curious wonder, as though she’s already forgotten she was ever meant to fear me.
"Put her down," I try to command, panic threading through my thoughts. "You’ll hurt her."
"She’s ours," the beast insists, possessive and fierce. "Our snowflake."
Kaged In
Follow Kage's journey as he tries to heal, falls in love and faces his inner turmoil.
Human Capture (Up North #2)
Raised in a starving settlement choked by a vast, unforgiving forest, Lara learned early that survival has a price. To keep her family alive, she became a master hunter—agile, silent, and deadly with an array of mismatched blades. But the forest has eyes, and one evening, the shadows dragged her away.
Nine months later, Lara breaks free from a concrete dungeon, only to find herself stranded in the lawless, rogue-infested wilds of Avers Land alongside four captured werewolf girls. Seeking refuge in the neighboring territory of Illyen, she expects to find a way back to her human life. Instead, she is brought face-to-face with Alpha Rowan, the terrifying, ruthless ruler of the frozen North.
One look into Lara’s eyes, and the Alpha’s world shatters. His eyes turn an absolute shade of black. The bond is undeniable. She is his fated mate.
But a human cannot survive the brutal political landscape of the North, and Rowan openly rejects the bond, dragging her onto a warship bound for a kingdom that views her as a fragile liability. Trapped between a mate who refuses to love her and a court of monsters waiting for her to break, Lara must use every hunter's instinct she possesses. Because in the realm of wolves, a human must either grow claws of her own—or perish in the snow.
First Taste in a Century
But Lysander’s arrival spells disaster. In a clumsy accident, he doesn't just ruin dinner; he obliterates her state-of-the-art scientific instruments. With her life’s work destroyed and her synthetic supply cut off, the scent of his living blood overwhelms her engineered senses. Forced to break a century-long abstinence, she takes what she needs, only to find herself addicted not just to his taste, but to the man himself.
Using the equipment as a flimsy excuse to lure him back, Vivienne battles a terrifying new obsession. She craves his body despite believing he’s taken, despising her own weakness. Meanwhile, Lysander’s initial terror curdles into a forbidden fascination. Can a relationship survive when one person feels everything, and the other only hungers?
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!
Cursed Fates
Pregnant by My Husband's Rival Alpha
Those words should have destroyed me, but the truth was worse: I'd been used as a broodmare by the man who swore to love me, set up in a hotel room with a stranger because My husband Alexander Cross couldn't father children himself, and now I carried the secret babies of Damon Lester—the most powerful and dangerous Alpha in San Loris—while my own family replaced me with the daughter they'd always wanted. But when that same stranger's doctor appeared at my door, when twenty million dollars exchanged hands over a fake perfume bearing my secret identity, and when Damon's gray eyes locked onto mine with recognition I couldn't afford, I realized my carefully hidden life as the legendary perfumer Vera was colliding with a pregnancy that could cost me everything.
Could I protect my babies from the husband plotting my death, hide my true identity from the Alpha who's been hunting me for years, and reclaim the freedom I'd buried along with my dreams—even if it means standing alone against the wolves who see me as nothing more than a womb to be used and discarded?
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?
The Ice Between Us.
Then comes Jax Miller.
Jax is a hotheaded rookie with a lightning-fast puck and a reputation for burning bridges. He doesn't follow playbooks, he doesn't respect authority, and he’s determined to melt Julian’s icy composure. When a viral video of their on-ice collision threatens to bankrupt the program, Coach Clain delivers an ultimatum that feels like a death sentence: they must live together in a cramped, two-bed dorm for the duration of the season.
Forced to navigate the high-stakes world of sports fame, "forbidden" locker-room tension, and the mysterious blackmailer who caught their first mistake on camera, Julian and Jax must decide what’s more dangerous: losing their careers, or losing themselves to the person they were supposed to hate.
Tempted By The Enemy
She escapes to Preston Island to attend the wedding without informing him only to collide with Lucas’s hot, fiery and arrogant brother, the twenty-three-year-old, Nicholas Donnelly. Sparks immediately fly between them but Alyssa refuses to acknowledge them fearing her brother's wrath.
The wedding is over and Alyssa tries hard to forget the mysterious Nicholas Donnelly but can he forget her? Can he ignore the attraction he feels for her, feelings that have resurfaced after ten years?
What will Allyssa do when she is stalked by the man who has been invading her dreams since the day she met him? What will she do when she is whisked away to a deserted island by the unpredictable Nicholas Donnelly? Can she tame her heart or surrender to sinful temptations? Read to find out!
Part of the Temptation Series. Can be read as a standalone.
The Family Books 1-3 (A Mafia romance)
The saint to my sinner. with her innocent eyes and devilish curves.
A Madonna that was meant to be admired but never touched.
Until someone took that innocence from her.
She left.
The darkness in my heart was finally complete.
I avenged her, I killed for her, but she never came back.
Until I saw her again. An angel dancing around a pole for money.
She didn’t know I owned that club. She didn’t know I was watching.
This time I won’t let her escape.
I will make her back into the girl I knew.
Whether she likes it or not.
2/ Judge and Jury- I can’t stop watching her.
I’m not even sure I want to.
Taylor Lawson, blonde, beautiful, and totally oblivious to how much dangers she’s in.
She’s also the one juror in my upcoming murder trial that hasn’t been bought.
The one who can put me behind bars for a very long time.
I know I should execute her.
After all that’s what I do.
I am the Judge.
I eliminate threats to The Family.
And Taylor is a threat.
But I don’t want to kill her.
Possessing her, making her love me seems like a much better plan for this particular Juror.
3/ Rags and Ritches-
Accidentally Crossing the Tycoon
Four years ago, the Bailey family faced a devastating financial crisis.
Just when bankruptcy seemed inevitable, a mysterious benefactor emerged, offering salvation with one condition: a contract marriage.
Rumors swirled about this enigmatic man—whispers claimed he was hideously ugly and too ashamed to show his face, possibly harboring dark, twisted obsessions.
Without hesitation, the Baileys sacrificed me to protect their precious biological daughter, forcing me to take her place as a pawn in this cold, calculated arrangement.
Luckily, in those four years, the mysterious husband never asked to meet in person.
Now, in the final year of our arrangement, the husband I've never met is demanding we meet face to face.
But disaster struck the night before my return—drunk and disoriented, I stumbled into the wrong hotel room and ended up sleeping with the legendary financial mogul, Caspar Thornton.
What the hell am I supposed to do now?












