"Did you think you could run from me, doll? Or is this just your way of testing me?" After being abandoned by her family, being sold by her godmother was the last thing Iris Paulman expected. Raised in a church in a small town, Iris's world was one filled with faith and innocence. But when her godmother put her up for sale to clear her pending debt, Irish life takes a drastic turn. What happens when ruthless mafia lord Damon Vyon decides to buy her?
Iris's POV
I always knew that Mimi Teresa liked me. Not loved, no, no. Just liked me, liked having me around and passing me off like one of her shiny little trinkets. That weird but fascinating thing she owned.
Yes, that's how my godmother always saw me.
Teresa Paulman or Mimi Teresa as I called her, mostly because she didn't want me to call her Mom as she believed she was still too young to be a mom-she's 53, and I couldn't call her Aunt because, well I just never did. Well, she has been my godmother since I was six years old when my parents decided to abandon me on her doorstep.
I can't remember why as it's been 13 years since then and I've been living with her ever since then. My name is Iris, Iris Paulman, I took Mimi's last name.
Life wasn't always great or horrible either growing up with her. We lived in this fairly large but very old and somewhat empty apartment, in the slightly better part of Harlem. It had three rooms, all of them old and falling apart.
One was mine, one was Mimi's, and the other was a room she kept all her treasures. 80s stuff; old paintings, old flashy clothes, letters, perfume bottles, and a slipping memory of being once famous, that's if the stories she constantly bragged off to me were real.
Mimi wasn't very present in my life, I mean she was there because she had nowhere else to be. Spending her days smoking pot and watching reality TV but she did give me what she could, though I never knew how. Mimi never worked.
I always wondered why but she never told me. Well, today I found out.
You see, living with Mimi was like living with walking bipolar. You couldn't predict what would happen each day, just like today.
I couldn't predict that after living with her as basically my only family for all my life, something like this would happen. I couldn't predict that ever.
"You did....what?"
"Seriously Iris, If you can just understand you'd be able to know why I'm doing this."
"I can't believe this," I said. I couldn't. Was this a joke? Did she forget to take her pills again? "You can't be serious."
"I don't know why you're acting like this-"
"You're selling me off! What...what the hell, Mimi? You can't do that!"
It was a random and cold afternoon in Harlem, New York. I did not expect to come back from my below-minimum-wage job, tired and hungry only for this always half-drunk woman to tell me that I was...she was...
"Jesus.."
"Don't call him into this, he blessed this decision."
"Why would you do this?" My eyes were getting itchy at this point.
She just straight-up told me she was selling me off to pay her debt. Not just that, she was selling me off into a mafia.
What mafia? How did she get affiliated with the mafia?
"It's going to favor you if you look at it the right way," she said, walking over to me, her beads and old jewelry jingling as she came closer, "Imagine turning out to be the mafia lord's favorite girl. Think of all the good stuff you'll get."
"Mimi...what are you even saying?" My green gaze traveled to her wrinkled face. I know she wasn't joking, she made the phone call in front of me. Telling a certain 'Mickey' that I was ready for pick up.
"Irine..." Her hand traveled to my face as she looked at me. Irine. She sometimes calls me when she's drunk or a little high. Maybe, she was and this was just a misunderstanding-
"You owe me."
"What?"
"You owe me, Pretty girl."
"What.. what do you mean-"
"Oh come off it," her hands went to my hair and the grip became tighter. "I took you in and for all these years, I took care of you."
She seemed to hold it tighter.
"I gave you food, clothing, and a roof over your pretty head. I asked for nothing in return.
I mean, did you think I was Mother Theresa or something?" She chuckled, "You owe me this, okay?" She was nodding now like she wanted me to follow, to understand that she had a right to do this.
"You're not going to do this to me." I yanked myself away from her. "You don't want me to do this."
She shrugged, running her wrinkled hand through her bleached wispy hair. "You wanna run away? Go ahead." She smirked, "It's the fucking Mafia, sweetie. They know you're my payment for all my debt, they're gonna find you. You're their property now."
...What?
****
It didn't take up to an hour for me to realize that I wasn't daydreaming and Mimi wasn't high or just joking. An hour later there was a knock on our door, it was sharp, it was abrupt, and just twice.
Mimi hurriedly opened the door and in came two men, dressed in black and with stoic expressions on their handsome faces. They didn't even bother to greet Mimi who was smiling awkwardly.
"Iris Paulman?"
"There she is." Mimi immediately gestured to me and I stood there, the tears I held in already spilling down my cheeks. I trembled under the gaze of the men as they approached me, they stopped right in front of me, went to my side, and gestured for me to walk out of the house.
I did, not looking back at Mimi, not daring to.
Outside the house was a jet-black SUV already waiting. I gestured inside and they did this without touching me again.
As I settled into the plush seats, the thought of escaping crossed my mind again. I kept thinking about how I could just jump out of the car or trick them or something. Those thoughts however stopped when I looked down in front of me.
Guns. Guns of different sizes Arranged in the back of the driver seats and passenger seats, in front of me.
"Oh..my God.." were they going to kill me?
My heart jumped as the car started moving, the windows closing and the two just sat at my side, not saying anything.
"Where...where are you taking me?"
They didn't answer.
"Are you going to kill me?"
That's when one of them turned. "You're now the property of Don Damon Vyon. If we so much as touch you, we'll be dead."
I tried to process the words they said, but they sounded distant and muffled. "Property of Don Damon Vyon?" What did that even mean?
Whatever it meant, I didn't like it one bit.
The guns, the silence, the ominous tone, all screamed danger.
As the SUV navigated through the darkening streets, my mind began racing.
I thought of escape plans, but each of them formed in my head dissolved as I noticed each of the windows was tinted, and the doors seemed to be locked from the outside.
One of the men, his face expressionless, turned to me. "We will be arriving soon. I suggest you make peace with whatever demons haunt you. Because your life will never be the same." He announced.
Ava Grayson and Luke Carter get thrown together by a marriage of convenience schemed by their parents. What happens when Ava finds out that her one-night stand is her soon-to-be husband's cousin and Luke's Ex showing up with twin babies on his wedding day? Find out in the book...
Marrying her best friend was a dream come true for Kelly, but everything truly has a limitation. Pierce is Kelly’s first love, but as his best friend, she knew well there was always another woman deep in his heart. Lexi Gilbert. The woman Pierce could never forget even if he had already been arranged to marry Kelly. *** Kelly finally realized their happy marriage of the last three years was just a beautiful dream when Pierce asked for a divorce just because Lexi returned. She could only be his best friend even if she was carrying his baby. *** Since their friendship had become a cage, Kelly chose to set him free, as well as the miserable herself. But why then, it was Pierce who became the one who refused to move on? To make matters worse, her devil stepbrother also domineeringly stepped in at the same time, asking her to be his. *** Her Prince Charming vs. Her Devil Stepbrother? How could Kelly save her heart in this battle of love and hate?
"You're a creepy bastard." His eyes smolder me and his answering grin is nothing short of beautiful. Deadly. "Yet you hunger for me. Tell me, this appetite of yours, does it always tend toward 'creepy bastards'?" **** Widower and ex-boss to the Mafia, Zefiro Della Rocca, has an unhealthy fixation on the woman nextdoor. It began as a coincidence, growing into mere curiosity, and soon, it was an itch he couldn't ignore, like a quick fix of crack for an addict. He didn't know her name, but he knew every inch of her skin, how it flushed when she climaxed, her favourite novel and that every night she contemplated suicide. He didn't want to care, despising his rapt fascination of the woman. She was in love with her abusive husband. She was married, bound by a contract to the Bratva's hitman. She was off-limits. But when Zefiro wanted something, it was with an intensity that bordered on madness. He obsessed, possessed, owned. There'd be bloodshed if he touched her, but the sight of blood always did fascinate him. * When Susanna flees from her husband, she stumbles right into the arms of her devilishly handsome neighbour with a brooding glare. He couldn't stand her, but she needed him, if she was ever going to escape her husband who now wanted her dead. Better the devil you know than the angel you don't. She should have recalled that before hopping into Zefiro's car and letting him whisk her away to Italy. Maybe then, she wouldn't have started an affair with him. He was the only man who touched her right, and the crazy man took no small pains in ensuring he would be the last.
Rose looked at the reports in her hand and was in shock... The reports said that she was one month pregnant, however, how can she get pregnant when she didn't have any man in her life... "Was it because of that dream? Could I get pregnant because I have sex in my dream?" She thought... She didn't have any mental problems, however, except for this she can't able to think about anything... However, she still didn't get out of her surprise when she met the man in her dream... Kevin Davis looked at the reports in her hand and asked, "Is this child mine?" However, Rose didn't answer but asked... "Was that night not a dream?" Kevin was angry because it was his first time and she thinks it was a dream... Kevin forced her to marry him however, Rose didn't want it... She wanted to abort the child but he didn't let her... In the end... Rose agreed to marry him... She looked at Kevin's blue eyes and said, "I will marry you, however, I had two conditions..." "First, after marriage, you can't control my freedom, I still had the right to do whatever I want. Don't worry I won't harm the child." "Second, if I ever found out that you had cheated behind my back then I will leave with my child and you can't stop me..." Both of them got married... However, after she falls in love with him... She found there are hidden secrets in his past...
Kallie, a mute who had been ignored by her husband for five years since their wedding, also suffered the loss of her pregnancy due to her cruel mother-in-law. After the divorce, she learned that her ex-husband had quickly gotten engaged to the woman he truly loved. Holding her slightly rounded belly, she realized that he had never really cared for her. Determined, she left him behind, treating him as a stranger. Yet, after she left, he scoured the globe in search of her. When their paths crossed once more, Kallie had already found new happiness. For the first time, he pleaded humbly, "Please don't leave me..." But Kallie's response was firm and dismissive, cutting through any lingering ties. "Get lost!"
"I stood at the edge of my heart and watched him choose her. In the end, I was not the one he needed. I was simply the one he settled for." - Noelle ~~~~~~~ I thought I was the one he loved. But a few days before our wedding, I saw him in a way I never had before. His eyes softened as he spoke to her. His first love, and the very woman who had left him in pieces. Heartbreak was something I knew too well. And as I watched the love he still held for her in his eyes, I realized what I had to do. I couldn't marry a man who wasn't truly mine. With no means to cancel the wedding and lacking the courage to confront him, I made a desperate choice to leave. I painfully gave his first love my treasured engagement ring thinking it was for the best and the only way to free myself. But when he saw that ring on her finger, the fragile world I had tried to escape began to shatter. His obsession to find me and bring me back ignited a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
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.”