Betrayed by the people she trusted the most, Valeria Montoya's world crumbles when her sister steals her fiancé and frames her for a crime she didn't commit. Sentenced to prison for a crime she never committed, she is released years later only to face a harsher fate-her own family sells her to the most dangerous mafia boss in Mexico, Rafael DeLuca. Feared by his enemies and worshipped by his allies, Rafael has no time for love. But when Valeria enters his world, something about her fragile strength intrigues him. What starts as a cruel arrangement soon turns into an obsession. Valeria wants revenge. Rafael wants her. And in the middle of a brutal mafia war, hearts will be shattered, loyalties will be tested, and love will be the most dangerous game of all. Will Valeria break free from her past, or will she become the mafia's captive bride forever?
BOOM!
And then the gavel hit the judge's desk, sealing her fate.
Valeria Montoya froze in the center of the sprawling courtroom, her heart pounding against her rib cage as the words rang in her ears.
"For crimes against the Montoya Corporation, Ms. Valeria Montoya is sentenced to two years in federal prison."
Gurgles of horror spread through the audience, but the reaction that knifed home was the monied grin creasing the mouth of the woman sitting next to Valeria's father.
Catalina.
Her younger sister. Her own flesh and blood.
Wearing a sleek black gown that hugged her shape, Catalina leaned against Alonso, Valeria's would-be fiancé. Alonso gave her a side-eye and placed a chaste kiss on Catalina's forehead, intertwining his fingers between her own.
Valeria's stomach turned inside out.
This wasn't happening.
"Father," she choked out, turning to the man she had always admired, hoping - praying - that he would stand up for her.
But Don Hector Montoya - one of the most powerful men in Mexico - merely pulled at his cufflinks and stared at her coolly, without emotion.
"You let me down, Valeria." His voice was cutting, like a knife. "You deserve this."
No. No, no, no.
"I didn't do this!" Valeria shouted, turning to the judge. "I was framed! I would never steal from the company!"
The guards were already coming her way.
"You have to believe me!" she wept, scanning the room for a friendly face. There was none.
"Take her away," the judge ordered.
Arms, clamped and hauling her back.
"No! Let me go!" She fought it, her eyes stinging with unshed tears. "Alonso, tell 'em the truth!"
Her former fiancé didn't so much as glance at her. He simply loomed next to Catalina with his arm protectively slung around her waist.
That was when it hit her.
They had planned this.
Her own sister had snatched away her fiancé, framed her, and ultimately made sure that she was deleted from the Montoya clan.
As the guards pulled her from the courtroom, Valeria would lock eyes once more with Catalina.
The woman she had once known - the sister she had once loved - smiled.
And then, in the coldest, most bone-chilling voice, Catalina said:
"Stay in prison, dear sister. It suits you."
Prison: Two Years Later
The cell was damp. Cold. Suffocating.
For two years, Valeria had resided in this hellhole, suffering mocking, abuse and the daily reminder that her family had forsaken her.
They never visited.
They never sent letters.
In their eyes, she was already dead.
As she lay staring at the ceiling, facing cracks for the hundredth time, her fingers curled into fists.
Then she heard the sound of heavy boots clumping down the hallway.
A guard came and unlocked the cell. "Get up, Montoya. Time to go."
Go?
Her heart leaped. Was she being released?
Weak from malnutrition, she stood and followed the guard down a dimly lit hall.
When he opened the door, she thought, her father would be standing there, arms wide with the ultimate realization that he had been wrong.
But instead...
She saw strangers.
Next to a sleek dark car were three men dressed in black suits. One of them - a muscly guy with a scar down the side of his face - walked over to her, holding a folded piece of paper.
"Sign this," he ordered.
She glanced at the paper. It was a contract.
A marriage contract.
Her blood ran cold. "What is this?"
The man's dark eyes glinted. "Your father sold you."
Valeria's throat constricted with unexpected breath.
No. No, he wouldn't...
Would he?
The man leaned closer, lowered his voice to a whisper. "You belong to Rafael DeLuca now."
Her pulse stopped.
Mexico's most dangerous mafia boss.
The man who had set whole empires on fire.
Her new husband.
And she suddenly understood - prison had merely opened the door to her nightmare.
Who is Rafael DeLuca, and why did he purchase Valeria?
It's true what they say about marriage: one partner's always happier than the other. ~~~ Julie's world is shattered when her husband, Ryan, reveals that he wants an open marriage. His reason: he needs a child as they've been unable to have one. Julie reluctantly agrees to save her marriage. The next day, Ryan returns home with his secretary, confirming Julie's long-held suspicion that their affair was taking place behind her back. Julie, heartbroken and enraged, seeks solace in a bar, where she meets a fascinating stranger named Luke, who changes the game. Julie confides in Luke over drinks, and he proposes a risky plan: he will act as her "boyfriend" to turn the tables on Ryan. Julie agrees, setting off a chain of events that will challenge everything she thought she knew about love, loyalty, and herself.
When Zora was sick during the early days of her pregnancy, Ezrah was with his first love, Piper. When Zora got into an accident and called Ezrah, he said he was busy, when in actual fact, he was buying shoes for Piper. Zora lost her baby because of the accident, and throughout her stay at the hospital, Ezrah never showed up. She already knew that he didn't love her, but that was the last straw for the camel's back, and her fragile heart could not take it anymore. When Ezrah arrived home a few days after Zora was discharged from the hospital, he no longer met the woman who always greeted him with a smile and cared for him. Zora stood at the top of the stairs and yelled with a cold expression, "Good news, Ezrah! Our baby died in a car accident. There is nothing between us anymore, so let's get a divorce." The man who claimed not to have any feelings for Zora, being cold and distant towards her, and having asked her for a divorce twice, instantly panicked.
Kaelyn devoted three years tending to her husband after a terrible accident. But once he was fully recovered, he cast her aside and brought his first love back from abroad. Devastated, Kaelyn decided on a divorce as people mocked her for being discarded. She went on to reinvent herself, becoming a highly sought-after doctor, a champion racer, and an internationally renowned architectural designer. Even then, the traitors sneered in disdain, believing Kaelyn would never find someone. But then the ex-husband’s uncle, a powerful warlord, returned with his army to ask for Kaelyn’s hand in marriage.
After hiding her true identity throughout her three-year marriage to Colton, Allison had committed wholeheartedly, only to find herself neglected and pushed toward divorce. Disheartened, she set out to rediscover her true self-a talented perfumer, the mastermind of a famous intelligence agency, and the heir to a secret hacker network. Realizing his mistakes, Colton expressed his regret. "I know I messed up. Please, give me another chance." Yet, Kellan, a once-disabled tycoon, stood up from his wheelchair, took Allison's hand, and scoffed dismissively, "You think she'll take you back? Dream on."
Chloe Miler, a naïve young woman, waits shyly to spend Valentine's Day with her boyfriend, but is betrayed on that day when she witnesses him entangled in bed with her own sister. Chloe's heart is broken when her heartfelt love for him is trampled on in an instant. *** Lionel Williams, the mysterious billionaire, the top of the pyramid, is handsome as hell. His eyes are set high, but he is drugged, has a one-night stand with a strange woman, and is humiliated by that unknowing woman with her money! His instincts tell him it's not that simple, and he's going to find her out!
"Miss Brown, I am the butler here at your service," the butler replied. "My master wants to buy the baby in your belly." "What?!" Does that mean the abortion didn't take place? Did they kidnap her from the operating table just to buy the baby? But why her? "You..." Alice was about to ask a question, but the man in front of her calmly continued, as if he had expected her question, "You're pregnant with his child, and he needs a child. That's all I can tell you." Alice was forced to sign a surrogacy contract and eight months later gave birth to two healthy babies. Fortunately, the man was unaware of her daughter's existence. It wasn't until five years later that fate brought them together again...