Playing With Fire

Playing With Fire

Mariam El-HafiđŸ”„ · Completed · 318.1k Words

941
Hot
65.8k
Views
3.4k
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

BEAWARE: This is highly unedited as it is a first draft. Edited version is called The Devil's Fire.

He pulled me in front of him, and I felt like I was like facing Satan himself. He leaned in closer to me, his face was so close to mine that if I moved, we would bump heads. I gulped as I looked at him with my wide eyes, scared of what he might do.

“We’ll have a little chat together soon, okay?” I couldn’t talk, I just stared at him wide-eyed while my heart was beating like crazy. I can only hope it was not mine he was after.

Althaia meets the dangerous mafia boss, Damiano, who gets drawn to her big innocent green eyes and can't seem to get her out of his mind. Althaia had been hidden away from the dangerous devil. Yet fate brought him to her. This time, he will never allow her to leave again.

Chapter 1

Althaia

I was standing in my hotel room as I was getting ready for my cousin’s engagement party. I have always been close to Cara as we basically grew up together in the same household as both of our fathers were running a business together. Long story short, I found out my father and uncle were running a mafia, and since they would always be busy doing whatever, they were doing, Cara spent most of the time with me and my mother. Sadly, Cara’s mother died when we were kids and my mother raised Cara like she was her own daughter, other than that, we were a pretty happy family.

Or so I thought.

There are things you just don’t notice when you are a kid because why would you when you are too busy being a kid, right? My father, Gaetano, was always a busy man but he did remember to spend time with me from time to time, not as often as I would have liked, but it was better than nothing.

One day Cara and I were being nosy as always and tried to eavesdrop on my parents because it sounded like they were fighting. We had sneaked down the stairs to get a better look and listen to what was going on but we couldn’t hear anything.

What happened next shocked us both.

My mother, Jacinta, slapped the fuck out of my father that night. We stood still, shocked to witness what had just happened before we ran back to our shared room, and pretended to be asleep so we wouldn’t be caught.

The next day, my mother had our bags packed and we left. I remember crying so hard that day because Cara wasn’t coming with us, my mother tried to take her with us, but uncle refused to let her go. It pained my mother to leave Cara behind like that and I was sure she had her reasons to leave, however, the reason for that is yet still unknown. My father and I didn’t stay in touch after that even though I tried to call him because I missed him, but he never once called me.

We moved hours away from our old home and I got to meet up with Cara whenever it was possible, but it did get more difficult for her to leave the house the older she got because her father became strict as hell. He became a parent from hell. He was always intoxicated with alcohol and drugs, a very dangerous mixture that made him insane and beat Cara whenever he was like that.

To say that I was nervous to be around them all for the first time in forever was an understatement. I didn’t know what to expect and kept thinking about if my father would be happy to see me after so long.

“
Don’t throw up.” I said to myself as I took a deep breath as I felt nauseous, especially now that I was all dressed up.

I decided to wear a long black backless silk dress with thin straps, the front is a deep v-plunge neckline that showed quite a bit of my cleavage. The dress was tight from the top and got a little loose from the hips as there was a long split on the right side, stopping mid-thigh. I finished the look with a pair of open-toe black stilettos with straps around the ankle.

I took one last final look in the mirror, and I was pleased with the work I had done. My long wavy and heavy brown hair reached the end of my back, and on the right side, I had put a rhinestone leaf design clip to lift some of the hair away from my face. I did a simple brown smokey eye which complimented my green eyes well and shaped them to be more cat-like.

“Let’s go.” I sighed to myself when I was done and made my way down to the lobby.

Cara made sure to send a car to my hotel to escort me to the mansion. My old home. My heart started to beat a little faster at the thought of being there after so long, and to see if it had changed much over the years. My father got himself a new wife not long after we left, and even has a son. Not biologically as it was from his wife’s previous marriage but treated him like his own. I would be lying to say if that didn’t bother the shit out of me because he treated someone else more like his own than with me.

Cara had spilled the tea on that immediately and said my father had totally downgraded. She said I will see what she meant when I get there, and I was ready to give the stink eye to whoever my father ended up marrying.

In the elevator ride down to the lobby, I felt myself getting more nervous and my hands fidgeted around the little gift box I had with me. It felt like my stomach was in a thousand knots, giving me a stomachache.

“Get it together, Althaia. What’s the worst that can happen. It’s just family.” I breathed out, trying to calm my nerves.

Reaching the lobby, the elevator doors opened, and I took a final deep breath, holding the small engagement gift in my hands. It wasn’t anything grand, just two champagne glasses saying ‘Mr. Right’ with a mustache, and the other ‘Mrs. Always Right’ with red kissy lips. It immediately made me think of Cara because she thinks she was always right. Even in situations where she wasn’t, she still was according to herself. She’s a little cocky sometimes.

Nearing the middle of the lobby, I stopped in the middle of my track as I spotted the tall blonde-haired man in a grey suit that hugged his body to perfection.

“Michael?!” I said in shock. He turned around and smiled at me when he spotted me.

“Althaia. Long time, no see.” He said while giving me a perfect smile, showing his perfectly white teeth. It has been so long since I last saw him, my first crush ever. Damn, now I remember why I was obsessed with him. He had the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen, a sharp jawline, and a clean-shaven face. His dirty blonde hair styled into perfection, giving the ‘I didn’t bother to try’ look, which just made him a hundred times sexier.

We actually dated when we were younger. He just didn’t know.

I just stared at him, my mouth was slightly open as I couldn’t believe my own two eyes.

“Damn, Althaia, just take a damn picture if you’re just going to stare at me like that.” He chuckled, and I immediately felt heat coating my cheeks. Damn, he still has that effect on me.

“Don’t flatter yourself too much, Michael. I was just surprised to see you here.” I laughed, hoping he didn’t notice my flushed cheeks.

“Yeah, well I kind of overheard Cara saying that you were coming, and she was going to send someone over to come and get you. I couldn’t believe that the Althaia was coming, so I said I would come and fetch ya.” He smiled and tucked his hands into the pockets of his slacks. His eyes slowly scanned from my eyes and trailed down to my body, and then up again to meet my eyes, giving me a lazy smirk in the process.

“Can’t say I regret the decision. You look stunning as ever, Althaia.” His beautiful blue eyes turned a shade darker as he drank me in. My heart was beating just a little faster with the way he was looking at me.

“And you look handsome as ever, Michael.” I said with a smile as he slowly walked up to me with a sexy grin on his face.

Oh boy, this was going to be a long night.


BE AWARE!

This is a very rough first draft version and needs major editing. I am well aware of the mistakes throughout the story, so kindly refrain from making "editing comments" :D

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

Mates: Regrets and Redemption

Mates: Regrets and Redemption

2k Views · Completed · Oniella Lawrence
I thought I had it all figured out. I rejected my destined mate for the love of my high school sweetheart, Curtis. But everything shattered when Curtis met his mate and chose to lie to me instead of rejecting her.

With my heart in pieces, I sought solace in the last place I expected—my Alpha's arms. One night turned into a dangerous entanglement, and now my Alpha refuses to let me go. As the Alpha’s obsession grows, I'm caught in a web of desire and fear.

Curtis, the boy I once loved, still holds a promise I made, but the Alpha’s powerful presence pulls me deeper into his world. Should I forgive Curtis and keep my word, or should I risk everything for a chance at something wild and unpredictable with the Alpha who won’t take no for an answer?


“There are no limits between us,” he chuckled, the mirth sparkling in his gorgeous eyes. “And all of this stems from the night you gave me both pain and pleasure. I’m simply returning the favor.”

He took two steps forward, and I stepped back. “But
” The memory of what I had done filled me with fear, and I knew I had to get out of there. “I
”

“No, Firecat.” He placed an index finger on my lips. “This will take your mind off that son of a bitch.” His strong hands pulled me by the waist until I felt his hard manhood.
The Contract Wife: Marriage Of Malice

The Contract Wife: Marriage Of Malice

79.7k Views · Completed · Cherie Frost
"Tell me to stop, and I will," he murmured against my ear. "But if you don't..."
He didn't finish. He didn't need to.
I didn't tell him to stop.
Instead, my fingers curled into his shirt, clutching the fabric as though it was my only anchor. Something in him snapped—something he had been holding back for too long. His mouth found mine in a kiss that wasn't tender, but hungry, desperate.
I gasped into him, his hand sliding up to cup my jaw, holding me as if afraid I might vanish.
"You drive me insane," he breathed against my mouth, his lips trailing to my throat. "I can't lose you, Ella. Not you."
My head fell back, a soft sound escaping me as his fingers memorized my waist. My anger melted beneath his desperation.
"James..." I whispered, more plea than protest.
His hand caught mine, fingers threading together tightly. "I'll bring him back. I swear it. Just... don't turn away from me. Please."
The word please—low, ragged, almost broken—undid me more than anything else could have.


Ella never imagined she would marry the man she had secretly loved for years in such a way.
When her brother Theo faced twenty-five years in prison for massive embezzlement, the ruthless business tycoon James Lancaster offered her a deal: marry him in exchange for her brother's freedom.
This wasn't a fairy tale proposal, but a carefully orchestrated revenge. Because in James's heart, Ella was the culprit who had killed his sister Cecilia. He wanted her to pay the price—to atone with a lifetime of suffering.
To protect what’s mine

To protect what’s mine

535.6k Views · Completed · Winter Rowe
Amalie is more special than she ever thought possible. Why would the twenty-two-year-old think any different after she has been told she’s nothing for her whole life by her family? Adoptive mother of a three-year-old, Ama has been locked up by her family for the past seven years. But everything changes when her old friends, the Alpha twins, Markus and Calyx, take over the Moonstone pack. Finding out that the twins are her mates, she is a white wolf, and has a connection to the Moon Goddess, is just icing on the cake of her life is a huge mess. Ama just wants a normal life with her mates and protecting her pup, but life rarely gives us what we want. She is thrust into world that she no longer remembers and has forgotten her. Amalie is charged with protecting those closest to her. But she has her own past to overcome as she heals and attempts to move forward. Will she come out alive or lose herself along the way? After all, someone has to be pulling the strings, why not pull her along for the ride?
Game of Destiny

Game of Destiny

1.2m Views · Completed · Dripping Creativity
Amie's wolf hasn't shown herself. But who cares? She has a good pack, best friends and a family who loves her. Everyone, including the Alpha, is telling her she is perfect just the way she is. That is until she finds her mate and he rejects her. Heartbroken Amie flees from everything and start over. No more werewolves, no more packs.

When Finlay finds her, she is living among humans. He is smitten by the stubborn wolf that refuse to acknowledge his existence. She may not be his mate, but he wants her to be a part of his pack, latent wolf or not.

Amie cant resist the Alpha that comes into her life and drags her back into pack life. Not only does she find herself happier than she has been in a long time, her wolf finally comes to her. Finlay isn't her mate, but he becomes her best friend. Together with the other top wolves in the pack, they work to create the best and strongest pack.

When it's time for the pack games, the event that decides the packs rank for the coming ten year, Amie needs to face her old pack. When she sees the man that rejected her for the first time in ten years, everything she thought she knew is turned around. Amie and Finlay need to adapt to the new reality and find a way forward for their pack. But will the curve ball split them apart?
HER ALPHA, HER SAVIOUR

HER ALPHA, HER SAVIOUR

2.4k Views · Ongoing · Iris
I sold myself to a monster to save my mom—and walked into a cage.

Kane Hellboud, charm and wealth personified, wanted only me in exchange for her treatment. No cameras, isolation, or noose-like rules were part of the deal. Behind his smile? Cold, violent possessiveness that destroyed our fake marriage.

Most of all, I didn’t know the supernatural walked among us, hiding in the cracks of ordinary life. Not until Abel Stone stepped into mine—dark-eyed, sharp-tongued, and oozing dangerous promises. He’s my new boss. He shouldn’t make my skin tingle or my pulse race. I shouldn’t feel this primal pull, this illogical recognition that tugs at something deep in my bones.

Around him, lights burst, electronics fry, and something ancient in me awakens.

Kane feels it. His grip tightens, punishments turn brutal, and he hides the truth of what I am.

Trapped between two powerful men, I’m no prey, no pawn—no helpless victim.

Prisons burn. Monsters bleed. As for me? I'm the storm in skin—deadly beyond suspicion.
Tempted By The Enemy

Tempted By The Enemy

3.9k Views · Completed · rituparna darolia
Twenty-two-year-old Alyssa Van Every is in a dilemma. Her close friend, Sienna, is marrying billionaire, Lucas Donnelly who, along with his brothers, happens to be her older brother, Alex's sworn 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.
Where The Ice Gives Way

Where The Ice Gives Way

28k Views · Ongoing · Sheridan Hartin
Charlotte Pierce is used to surviving in motion. New towns, new schools, the same old house on the edge of nowhere, and the same rule that keeps her standing. Keep her twin brother, Charlie safe. Keep his hockey dream alive. Keep her own needs quiet. She works too much, sleeps too little, and saves the one thing that still feels like hers for the middle of the night, when she can lace up her worn skates and carve freedom into dangerous frozen ice. Charlotte and Charlie shifted once, years ago, and never understood what it meant. They had no pack, no guidance and no protection. Just two twins clinging to each other and pretending the voice in their heads was stress, imagination, or loneliness. Then they move to Wellington.
Blake Atlas scents his mate the moment Charlotte arrives. The bond hits hard and unmistakable, but Charlotte doesn’t recognise it. She doesn’t know why her chest keeps pulling toward the one boy she absolutely cannot afford to want. Blake is Charlie’s new hockey captain. Charlie’s chance at making something good. Charlie makes it clear; his sister is off-limits and Blake tries to do the right thing, but secrets don’t stay buried forever. Rogues prowl the edges of town. The ice cracks. The bond tightens. Then Charlotte’s rare white wolf awakens, the very thing that makes her powerful, also makes her a target.
Shanti needs Shakti. (Peace needs strength.)

Where the Ice Gives Way is a slow-burn YA paranormal romance filled with fated mates, protective alpha energy, fierce sibling loyalty, found family pack bonds, hurt/comfort, and quiet, aching tension. It’s a story about first belonging, learning to be cared for, and what happens when the girl who has always held everyone else up finally falls, and someone catches her.
A pack of their own

A pack of their own

2m Views · Completed · dragonsbain22
Being the middle Child ignored and neglected, rejected by family and injured, She receives her wolf early and realizes she is a new type of hybrid but doesn't know how to control her power, she leaves her pack with her best friend and grandmother to go to her grandfather's clan to learn what she is and how to handle her power and then with her fated mate, her best friend and her fated mate little brother and grandmother start their own pack.
Aphrodite and the Cursed Mate Bond

Aphrodite and the Cursed Mate Bond

2.8k Views · Ongoing · June Calva
In a werewolf pack that despised weakness, Aphrodite learned to survive by staying quiet, keeping her head down, and enduring cruelty in silence. The Alpha heirs hated her. The future Beta and Gamma made her life unbearable. When she finally breaks and seeks freedom at the Moon Goddess temple, she does not find release.

She finds truth.

Aphrodite is not human at all. She is a rare white wolf, descended from an ancient Direwolf bloodline long believed extinct. The ritual meant to sever her ties awakens her wolf instead and with it comes the scent of five mates bound to her by fate.

The Alpha twins who once scorned her now cannot stay away. A human hunter walks beside her and proves that strength is not born of fangs or dominance. A cursed Wolf King holds the key to her past and her father’s imprisonment. And watching from the shadows is one who was never meant to interfere at all.

As gods fall, packs fracture, and war reshapes the world, Aphrodite must decide what destiny truly means. Is it submission to fate or the courage to choose her own path.

Love does not come in one form. Neither does power.

In a world ruled by gods and wolves, Aphrodite will become something neither ever expected.

Not a queen.

But the axis upon which the world turns.
After the Affair: Falling into a Billionaire's Arms

After the Affair: Falling into a Billionaire's Arms

1.5m Views · Ongoing · Louisa
Dear readers, this novel is coming to an end soon. I highly recommend another fantastic story of the same genre:


I’d appreciate all your support, thank you so much!
From first crush to wedding vows, George Capulet and I had been inseparable. But in our seventh year of marriage, he began an affair with his secretary.

On my birthday, he took her on vacation. On our anniversary, he brought her to our home and made love to her in our bed...

Heartbroken, I tricked him into signing divorce papers.

George remained unconcerned, convinced I would never leave him.

His deceptions continued until the day the divorce was finalized. I threw the papers in his face: "George Capulet, from this moment on, get out of my life!"

Only then did panic flood his eyes as he begged me to stay.

When his calls bombarded my phone later that night, it wasn't me who answered, but my new boyfriend Julian.

"Don't you know," Julian chuckled into the receiver, "that a proper ex-boyfriend should be as quiet as the dead?"

George seethed through gritted teeth: "Put her on the phone!"

"I'm afraid that's impossible."

Julian dropped a gentle kiss on my sleeping form nestled against him. "She's exhausted. She just fell asleep."
The Vampire Prince's Hybrid Bride

The Vampire Prince's Hybrid Bride

51.4k Views · Ongoing · Riley Above Story
As a wolfless orphan, Joanne had been abused by Alpha Anthony ever since she was a child. She devoted her entire life to surviving in his pack—until one day, she returned home to find an injured vampire lying in her house, his whole existence luring her in. Taking the risk of bringing him in, Joanne never expected Alpha Anthony to discover it the very next day and finally seize the chance to kill her. Just as Joanne was about to be executed, the vampire she had saved arrived, with his army. And Joanne realized that he was the Prince Alexander, heir to the vampire throne
..
A Queen Among Tides (Book 5 in the Gods' Saga)

A Queen Among Tides (Book 5 in the Gods' Saga)

4.6k Views · Ongoing · ADB_Stories
One mistake centuries ago left Lemuel cursed by the Goddess Merlos and forced to wander the earth granting the wishes of those who touch him. Lemuel was looking at an eternity of loneliness until his unexpected soulmate plucked him right out of the sea.

Shocked to find he's been bound in more ways than one to Sebastian, the future King to the Kingdom of Atlesper, Lemuel resists Sebastian's advances at every turn, believing this may be one pairing Goddess Zarseti got wrong.

Lemuel will have to face his past in hopes of starting a new future, but an overly flirtatious King is the least of his worries when he learns Sebastian's parents are convinced that a conniving usurper disguised as a curvy blonde, is the future king's true soulmate.

A Queen Among Tides is the 5th book in the Queen Among Series/The Gods' Saga. This is an interconnected series. To see how it ends, I recommend reading the full series.

Books in the series order:
A Queen Among Alphas - Book 1
Bite-Size Luna - A Queen Among Alphas Prequel (available under book 1)
A Queen Among Snakes - Book 2
A Queen Among Blood - Book 3
A Queen Among Darkness - Book 4
Whole Again - A Queen Among Alpha's spin-off (available under book 1)
A Queen Among Tides - Book 5
Valor, Virtue, and Verve - Tides Prequel Spin-off (will be available under book 5)
A Queen Among Gods - Book 6
Runaway Empress - A Queen Among Snakes Prequel (will be available under book 2)
A Queen Among Tempests - Book 7
Dark Vocation - Darkness spin-off (will be available under book 4)
A Court of Arcane Souls Anthology (side character short stories exclusive to Ream)
Royal Shadow Series (Next Gen Coming Soon)