Bound with the blood of the leading MOB families in New York, Gabriela Santoro scuffles to find her way out of the life that is already planned for her. Guns and danger always flare in her direction. Choices are considered being privileges and peace is always not given even her marriage is now being manipulated into a gamble between debt and power. Sold into their rival family, Gabriela finds herself being entangled with the beast of all beasts. Dark and arrogant, he slipped a gold ring into her fingers. The only difference is that it wasn't a covenant of his love, but a testament to his ownership of her. He's Giovanni Dela Vin, and he's her greatest nightmare.
Gabriela
" You can kiss harder than that," he whispered. The scent of smoke and bourbon fills the air, it was addicting yet, suffocating. " What's wrong, Santoro? Do you not enjoy being owned?" His voice was laced with distaste.
My gaze found him. Rage fuels my heart to push him away. " No. Not with someone as beast as you," I smirk and hit his chest, ready to pull away when suddenly, his hand grips my hair, pulling me closer to his body.
" Careful, Santoro. I might ruin you, right here, right now," he darkly said directly beneath my ears as I felt his fingers painfully stroking the tips of my hair. My heart was beating too fast and I cannot move, not when my whole family was here, at this beast's mercy.
The elite party lights, champagnes, and sexy music didn't justify how disgraceful this place was. A pity party for the Mob families, announcing a dream of happily ever after which doesn't exist in our dark world. Only the greedy attend this kind of party. Only those who bathe in power and cruelness attend this kind of party.
As we continue to dance in the middle of all these hypocrites, I can feel stares from every woman in the room. Sure, everyone hates me for stealing the beast's freedom from being the hottest bachelor in town to a one-woman man. And yet, I don't have any choice because he bought me.
" Counting how many women envy you right now, Santoro?" he whispered, tugging me closer to his body until my cheeks were close enough to lie down in his chiseled chest.
I cursed. " You better let go of me right now, Dela Vin," I warned, but the asshole only pressed me harder into his chest, making me frustrated.
This engagement party shouldn't happen in the first place. I shouldn't agree with this to happen, but my voice was shut down by my family, who knowingly sold me to the devil.
No matter how much I resist, this path allows them to have the power dancing in their hands, and that's what matters the most. My happiness and consent regarding this important part of my life weren't given on a silver platter.
I was served cold and ready to be the sacrificial lamb for this beast in front of me.
He darkly chuckles, stroking my hair. " Can you see the barcode in your ring, Santoro?"
I flicked my eyes and saw the barcode that he was talking about. " You have no taste," I whispered with disgust. "If you want this to work, you could have chosen an infinity symbol for our love to prosper," I mockingly said, still eyeing the barcode at the center of the golden ring he gave as an engagement ring earlier.
Dela Vin laughed. "That barcode means I bought you, Santoro. It's not a symbol of love, it's my symbol of ownership against you. Remember this: your own family sold you to me to save their ass off their debts. Now, dance and enjoy the night or I'll change my mind."
" Y-You can't do that!" I quickly said, jogging him away and looking into his eyes with fear. No. He can't change his mind because if he did... if he did...
He smirked. "I'm the boss, Santoro. No one will argue if I told them I changed my mind about marrying you," he whispered, making me frozen in place.
"I could've destroyed cities and burned every person in this room, but no one is powerful enough to stop me," he mentions.
When I looked up, I saw nothing in his eyes. Not even a single stroke of emotion can be seen. And then, I realized who I was sold to. He was Giovanni Dela Vin, the leading MOB leader and the most dangerous one.
My stomach was in knots. My heart sank into oblivion because I didn't have any choice. In order for my family to live, I was here to please him and convince him to marry me. It's the only way for us to live.
" You know who needs this marriage more than I do." He fixes his coat and attempts to walk away. I was too fast to hold his arm and stop him from walking away.
He shouldn't have walked out of this party. I cannot let him leave. My eyes are full and hot as I fight the urge to cry from this miserable life that I had. I don't even know what love is and then, here I am being married, to the ruthless person who has ever lived.
I am afraid. He makes me afraid.
Dela Vin rolls his eyes and moves closer to me. " If they see that you're crying right now, they might think that I am a bad fiance' forcing you to be married to me, Santoro."
I can do this. My tears rolled down but my hands wiped them away just before someone noticed it.
With every step, my body is shaking with regret. The idea of marriage was totally ruined in the back of my mind because I know how doomed I am. I can never experience a fortunate marriage because right now, I am sealing my fate.
Dela Vin remains standing in the midst of the crowd. His large frame makes him stand amongst the crowd. He was handsome, yet it was dangerous to even stare at him. As the beast stared right into me, his lips grinning and brows rising, I knew why my family chose to run to him for help.
Every step feels heavy. It weighs resignation from the dream, letting go of my freedom, and accepting my fate.
"Please marry me."
I looked up at him and saw the flashing lights behind him. Whilst I am trembling, Dela Vin stands still and only stares right into me with a pleased grin.
" Take me as your wife. Please take me as your wife." Those words slowly left my mouth before I found myself running into him and crashing our lips for everyone at this party to see.
I felt him smile through our kiss. "You better be a good wife then," he replied before owning my lips without inhibitions.
Iris grew from an orphaned child to the adopted daughter of the Stewart family at age ten, finding warmth in her nominal uncle Vincent's kindness. Seven years later, she became his secret lover. When Vincent's engagement was announced, gossip spread about the notorious playboy CEO finally settling down. But only Iris knew the extent of his cold, two-faced nature. Iris fell for Vincent and, through tears, begged, "Marry me," only to be met with his frosty refusal. Defeated, she accepted a lawyer's proposal, sparking public excitement. Then, on her wedding day, Vincent pleaded desperately, "Don't marry him…"
For three years, Shane and Yvonne were wed, sharing heated nights, while his devotion clung to his ex. Yvonne strove to be a dutiful wife, yet their marriage felt hollow, built on desire rather than real warmth. All changed when she became pregnant, only for Shane to thrust her onto the operating table, warning, “Either you or the baby survives!” Broken by his cruelty, she vanished in grief and later returned, radiantly accomplished, leaving everyone awestruck. Haunted by remorse, Shane begged for another chance, but Yvonne only smiled and replied, “I’m sorry, men no longer interest me.”
Amy didn't expect that her husband whom she had loved and trusted earnestly for many years would be cheating on her by having sex with his secretary. When she confronted him, he and his secretary mocked and ridiculed her, they called her barren to her face, afterall, she had not conceived for the past three years that she had been married to her husband, Callan. Terribly Heartbroken, she filed for divorce and left to the club, she picked a random gigolo, had a hot one night stand with him, paid him and dissapeared to a small city. She came back to the country six years later with three identical cute boys and three identical cute girls of the same age. She settled and got a job but soon find out that her CEO was the gigolo she had sex with six years back at the club. Will she be able to hide her six little cuties from her CEO, who happens to be the most powerful man in NorthHill and beleived to be infertile? Can Amy and the most powerful man in NorthHill get along considering the social gap between them.
There was only one man in Raegan's heart, and it was Mitchel. In the second year of her marriage to him, she got pregnant. Raegan's joy knew no bounds. But before she could break the news to her husband, he served her divorce papers because he wanted to marry his first love. After an accident, Raegan lay in the pool of her own blood and called out to Mitchel for help. Unfortunately, he left with his first love in his arms. Raegan escaped death by the whiskers. Afterward, she decided to get her life back on track. Her name was everywhere years later. Mitchel became very uncomfortable. For some reason, he began to miss her. His heart ached when he saw her all smiles with another man. He crashed her wedding and fell to his knees while she was at the altar. With bloodshot eyes, he queried, "I thought you said your love for me is unbreakable? How come you are getting married to someone else? Come back to me!"
"Ahh!" She was in a moaning mess. She did not want to feel anything for this man. She hated him. His hands began to move all over her body. She gasped when he pulled down the back chain of her dress. The chain stopped at her lower waist, so when he zipped it off, her upper back and waist were exposed. "D-Don't touch m-ummm!" His fingers rolled around her bare back, and she pressed her head against the pillow. His touches were giving her goosebumps all over her body. With a deep angry voice, he whispered in her ear, "I am going to make you forget his touches, kisses, and everything. Every time you touch another man, you will only think of me." - - - Ava Adler was a nerdy omega. People bullied her because they thought she was ugly and unattractive. But Ava secretly loved the bad boy, Ian Dawson. He was the future Alpha of the Mystic Shadow Pack. However, he doesn't give a damn about rules and laws, as he only likes to play around with girls. Ava was unaware of Ian's arrogance until her fate intertwined with his. He neglected her and hurt her deeply. What would happen when Ava turned out to be a beautiful girl who could win over any boy, and Ian looked back and regretted his decisions? What if she had a secret identity that she had yet to discover? What if the tables turned and Ian begged her not to leave him?
Elena, once a pampered heiress, suddenly lost everything when the real daughter framed her, her fiancé ridiculed her, and her adoptive parents threw her out. They all wanted to see her fall. But Elena unveiled her true identity: the heiress of a massive fortune, famed hacker, top jewelry designer, secret author, and gifted doctor. Horrified by her glorious comeback, her adoptive parents demanded half her newfound wealth. Elena exposed their cruelty and refused. Her ex pleaded for a second chance, but she scoffed, “Do you think you deserve it?” Then a powerful magnate gently proposed, “Marry me?”