"I’ll give you my body." The words tasted like poison, but I had no choice.
I stood on the ledge of the window, trembling in my slip, the shredded remains of my gold wedding dress lying on the floor behind me. I had just escaped a forced marriage to a man I loathed, only to land straight into the territory of the devil himself.
Luciano Rocco. My childhood enemy. The man who wanted my family dead.
He looked at me with those cold, predator eyes, his hands in his pockets, unbothered by my desperation. "I’m not interested in your body, Valeria," he whispered, leaning closer until his breath ghosted against my ear. "I’m interested in making your life a living hell."
He didn't want sex. He wanted my soul. He wanted to use me to destroy my father. And I let him. I signed the contract.
183 days. That was the deal. I would be his fake fiancée to save myself from my father's wrath. But I didn't expect him to drag me back to the wedding hall, gun in hand, and kiss me in front of everyone just to prove a point.
"As of this moment, you are dead to me," my father spat.
Now I’m trapped in Luciano’s mansion, wearing his mother’s ring. He watches my every move. He taunts me. But when an assassin tried to kill him in my bedroom, I took the bullet for him. Why? Why did I save the monster who swore to break me?
And now, he’s sent my father a gift. A box containing the assassin’s severed head.
"You’re mine, Valeria," he told me, his eyes dark with a promise of violence. "You are not permitted to die until I say so."
I thought I was playing a game of survival, but I fear I’ve just walked willingly into a trap I can never escape.
