Rosalia Caruso, an untrained spy life took a tremendous turn as she embarked on a perilous mission to clear her father's debt: infiltrate the home of the formidable mafia lord, Carmine Montanari. With her life on the line, she must spy on him, gather crucial information, and find a way to get closer to the enigmatic leader. As she navigates the treacherous waters of loyalty and betrayal, Rosalia's determination is tested at every turn. She gradually began falling for the mafia lord and her feelings getting in her way. Will she uncover Carmine's secrets, or will she become entangled in a web of intrigue and passion that could consume them both? What happens when she discovers the secrets of the organisation who sent her? How would she be able to keep the secret and still save Carmine from getting hurt? Dive into a tale of suspense, romance, and unexpected twists that will leave you breathless and craving more.
Rosalia POV
"We want him dead. And you will do the job."
My eyes widened in shock at their sudden words. Kill! Carmine Montanari?!
"No way! I can't do that! I've never done an assassination job! Ever!" I protested, my voice trembling with fear. "And even if I had, this is not just anybody we're talking about. This is the lord of the Montanari family! I could never even get close to him without being killed myself. I can't take..."
Smack!
Before I could finish, a forceful strike sent me crashing to the floor, pain radiating through my face. The sting was immediate, and my vision blurred with tears.
Looking up, I saw the deputy head's cold, unfeeling eyes boring into me as if I were a piece of trash. "Have you forgotten your identity, Rosalia?" she asked.
I shivered as she bent down to my level and raised my chin roughly to meet her eyes. "You're a slave. Our slave." Her voice froze my blood. "And you will do whatever we tell you to do. Understand?"
Tears filled my eyes as she stood back up, casting one last, disdainful glance at me before leaving the room. Her words echoed in my mind, amplifying the hopelessness that gripped my heart.
The walls seemed to close in, trapping me in an eternal hell. She was right. I had no choice. I was their slave.
Even if they had asked me to kill myself, I would have no option but to obey. Resistance was futile. I could only submit. My attempts to fight back, to assert even a shred of my will, were pointless. I was nothing more than a tool to them, a pawn in their brutal game.
Curled on the floor, I cried silently. Each sob wracked my body, a manifestation of the despair and powerlessness that consumed me. The cold, hard floor beneath me felt like a grave.
I never wished for a life like this. No one would. Every day was a struggle to survive, to hold on to the faintest hope that things might change. But hope was a cruel illusion, always just unreachable.
But I had no choice. My father died in their debt, and I was at their mercy. Escaping was pointless; they would catch me, and the torture would be even worse. I had seen firsthand what happened to those who tried. Their broken bodies and vacant eyes haunted my nightmares.
"Rosa? Rosa!"
The door of my room opened and someone came in.
"Rosa?" Her urgent voice quieted in concern as she sat next to me. It was my best friend, Marcel. I raised my head from my knees and hugged her tightly. She was probably confused but she hugged me back.
"Rosa, what happened? Tell me."
And so I burst out sobbing again. "I don't know, Marcel. They assigned me an assassination mission. And I can't kill. I don't know how to. I've never killed anything! And this is not just anything. How am I supposed to kill Carmine Montanari?! I'll be killed! They're sending me to my death!"
Her body froze as I spoke hysterically. She pulled me away from her, her eyebrows furrowed angrily, green eyes seeming like they were ready to cast a witch's spell.
"Fuck!" She blurted out. "Rosa, you can't go!"
"I know, Marcel! I know! But Imelda doesn't let me reject the mission. There's nothing I can do. Absolutely nothing. I'm going to die."
"You are not going to die."
"I am!!!"
"Shut up! I'll kill the old hag! Let her see who's dying first! She can't send you on an assassination; there are people for that!"
I hugged my knees tightly, rocking back and forth as I trembled from my very core. Maybe it was the fear of death, or perhaps it was the overwhelming sense of powerlessness I felt, but I just could not stop trembling.
Marcel wiped the tears on my face with her fingers, but it was no use. My tears seemed perpetually never-ending.
At this point, a man appeared at the door. The bald head, thick furrowed brows, and tall muscular frame could not be more familiar to me. This was one of the 'enforcers' of the organization. Enforcer being a fancy name to address the beasts who were responsible for punishment and torture.
His eyes roamed between Marcel and me before landing on me. "Imelda sent for you," he said slowly.
"Fuck you! She's going nowhere." Marcel made to lunge at him, but I pulled her back immediately. I was already in trouble. I couldn't let Marcel be punished too.
I wiped my tears roughly, trying to strengthen my tone. "I'll go. Marcel, stay here."
I stared at her blazing green eyes seriously. She didn't need to put herself in danger to save me.
She seemed reluctant but stood back as I left, her hands clenched tightly. The look in her eyes was a mixture of anger and helplessness, mirroring my turmoil.
We soon reached the door of Imelda's office, and the bald enforcer held the door open, signaling me to go in. I felt my heart jump to my throat as I walked in with my head lowered. He followed behind and closed the door.
For a few minutes, it was silent. The silence seemed heavy and imposing. All of a sudden, I heard the sound of a chair being pushed back, and my heart thumped loudly as Imelda approached me.
She stood right in front of me, her presence suffocating.
"You know, I don't quite understand you, Rosalia. Why would you reject the mission? It's easy. Kill and leave. You've been here for ten years. Don't tell me you haven't seen a person being killed before?"
I could hear the biting sarcasm in her words. But was it as easy as she said? No. The first time I had seen a person die in front of me, I had been burdened by nightmares for a really long time before I recovered. If I were to kill a person myself, I would probably never recover.
I remained silent, not replying to her taunts. This most likely irritated her, and she became impatient, grabbing my jaw to make me look straight at her.
"I don't have much patience, but I'll be a good person and give you another option. Kill this man, and your father's debt will be completely cleared away or reject the mission right here, right now and follow Pablo here to his quarters so you can both have a good talk. Choose."
My hope, that had been raised momentarily, immediately fell into the depths of an abyss. These were my options: die or die. I was still helpless; I had no choice.
Seeing that I gave no reply, she released my jaw and nodded to the enforcer. "Take her away, Pablo."
I panicked as he grabbed my arm. "Wait... please... no..."
Suddenly, the door opened. "Take who away?"
In a supernatural world separated from the tainted ones - Humans. Victoria Harper's life went downhill when an ancient evil awoke, claiming the lives of those who she holds dear, sending her on a path of revenge. Being in a forced exile, she has her childhood friend, Asa to hold onto for a sense of normalcy. The evil she thinks she knows, is not the evil that is. Seeking refuge in Human realm, she meets Gioli, a halfling, who takes her in. When Dave De'ville, the Vampire heir, shows up unexpectedly once more in her life, bringing bloodshed and love along with him, she is torn between hate and the love her wolf has for him. Unveiling her power as Primordial Wolf Supreme, she battles the entity, Varak - hate, malice and destruction in physical form - that has corrupted the minds of Vampires since the inception of time. Will she overcome her fears? Will she succeed? Will she remain with her current boyfriend, Daniel, or finally give into her wolf, and accept Dave as her mate? Can their union be instrumental in the defeat of Varak? Will good win in the end? Or will she watch everything and everyone she loves die before her eyes? Read on to find out !
Warning: This book has high sexual assault displays, but does not support any form of rape. I, Alpha Edward Parker, swear that I will keep you tied to me until I make you pay for what you did to my mate," he swore, gripping my chin in a bruising hold. "Not only will you wish for death, but you will beg for it, and it will be too far from you." I could feel the eyes of the whole pack on us. They probably came to experience a normal wedding, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I was being married off to a groom because he wanted revenge. Tears welled, and I wanted to scream, "I am your mate; I'm the one who saved you, not her." But I knew no one would believe me. I was his mate, how could he not recognize me? Four years ago, Amanda happened to save a total stranger, but due to a string of misunderstandings, her sister took her place. The stranger then promised a vow of betrothal to his savior. Not seeing any use in correcting the error, Amanda allowed it. That was her biggest mistake because the stranger ended up being her own mate. Caught in a web of lies and confusion, she decides to set herself free by speaking the truth. But her plans are thwarted when her sister turns up dead, and she is pinned as the main suspect. A mate out to seek revenge for another, a forced marriage, an underlying plot, a web of lies, and many dark secrets. How can Amanda navigate all these without losing sight of herself? How will she speak the truth when she has already lost her voice and has been destroyed by her own mate?
For seven years, Jillian pursued Bryan with unyielding passion, but he remained distant, his emotions tightly sealed. Disheartened, she left for overseas after graduating from college. Three years later, Jillian, now a successful attorney, sat provocatively on the lap of Bryan's competitor. She flashed Bryan a playful smile and taunted, "What's wrong, Bryan? Are you impotent?" Bryan's restraint shattered in an instant. In a swift motion, he scooped her up and tossed her onto the bed. The next morning, as Bryan woke up, Jillian flashed a mischievous smile. "Let's keep things casual, okay?"
My family was on the poverty line and had no way to support me in college. I had to work part-time every day just to make ends meet and afford to get into the university. That was when I met her—the pretty girl in my class that every boy dreamt of asking out. I was well aware she was out of my league. Nevertheless, I mustered all my courage and bravely told her that I had fallen for her. To my surprise, she agreed to be my girlfriend. With the sweetest smile I had ever seen, she told me that she wanted my first gift for her to be the latest and top-of-the-line iPhone. I worked like a dog and even did my classmates’ laundry to save up. My hard work eventually paid off after a month. I finally got to buy what she wanted. But as I was wrapping my gift, I saw her in the dressing room, making out with the captain of the basketball team. She then heartlessly made fun of my inadequacy and made a fool out of me. To make things worse, the guy whom she cheated on me with even punched me in the face. Desperation washed over me, but there was nothing I could do but lie on the floor as they trampled on my feelings. But then, my father called me out of the blue, and my life turned upside down. It turned out that I was a billionaire's son.
Accused of murder, Sylvia Todd's mother was deemed a traitor by the entire pack, condeming Sylvia to live the rest of her life alone in humiliation as a lowly slave. All she wanted to do was to prove her mother's innocence somehow, but fate never seemed to be on the side of the traitor's daughter. Still, Sylvia never lost hope. As the future lycan king of all werewolves, Rufus Duncan possessed great power and status, but he had an inexplicable reputation for being cruel, bloodthirsty, and ruthless. Unbeknownst to everyone, he had been cursed long ago to transform into a killer monster on every full moon. Even though fate did not always look upon the two, it brought Sylvia and Rufus together as each other's destined mates. Will justice be served for Sylvia's mother? What about Rufus' secret? Can Sylvia and Rufus defy all societal norms and stay together? Will these two unlucky souls have their happy ending?
The night before her engagement, Valerie was tricked by her boyfriend and stepsister into spending the night with a stranger. After the night together, the man vanished. Later, her boyfriend accused her of cheating, revealing his affair with her stepsister. Pressured by her father, Valerie married an unconscious man in place of her stepsister. Valerie exposed the scheme, sabotaged her father’s ambitions, and transformed herself. When her husband woke and chased her to the airport, she calmly refused him, saying, "It's over between us." He held her firmly. "You married me, so you must commit."
The day Lilah found out that she was pregnant, she caught her fiancé cheating on her. Her remorseless fiancé and his mistress almost killed her. Lilah fled for her dear life. When she returned to her hometown five years later, she happened to save a little boy's life. The boy's father turned out to be the world's richest man. Everything changed for Lilah from that moment. The man didn't let her experience any inconvenience. When her ex-fiancé bullied her, he crushed the scumbag's family and also rented out an entire island just to give Lilah a break from all the drama. He also taught Lilah's hateful father a lesson. He crushed all her enemies before she even asked. When Lilah's vile sister threw herself at him, he showed her a marriage certificate and said, "I'm happily married and my wife is much more beautiful than you are!" Lilah was shocked. "When did we ever get married? Last I checked, I was still single." With a wicked smile, he said, "Honey, we've been married for five years. Isn't it about time we had another child together?" Lilah's jaw dropped to the floor. What the hell was he talking about?