Smoke And Steel

The news that Angelo Rizzo was becoming the new Don of Brucklin District had spread throughout the entire family. Everyone knew except me, Lila Bennett, his fiancee. He had always thought I was childish, like an irritating tail he couldn't shake off, sticking to him wherever he went. "I've only managed to bag Brucklin District all thanks to Cyrus." The study door was ajar as the scent of cigar smoke drifted out along with his voice. "Lila? Why bring her up? She's annoying. Like a piece of gum stuck to your hair." I crouched on the hallway carpet, lost in thought. Before, it was always Angelo leaving first and me realizing it too late. This time, I wanted to surprise him by going to Brucklin ahead of him. When he saw me there first, he'd realize that I was smart. But the next day, at the bus station, when the driver asked where I was going, I mixed Brucklin and Mannattan up. The driver grew impatient. Afraid he'd call me an idiot like Angelo would, I hurriedly shove the money at him. "To Mannattan! I'm going to Mannattan District!"

I was a slum kid who fell for Damon Vitale, New York’s most feared Godfather. For five years, I was his. I took nine bullets for him. He’d kiss my scars as I bled out for him. Hold me close. Clasp the queen’s necklace around my throat. Then, once I healed, he’d fuck me senseless, with a passion that felt like forever. I thought we’d spend our lives together. I thought he would marry me. But on our 999th night together, he told me he was engaged. To Bianca, a mafia princess from a rival family. I swallowed my tears. He just grabbed my chin, blew smoke in my face, and laughed. "You didn't really think you could marry me, did you, Nora? Let's be clear. We fuck. That's it. You're not a partner. You're a piece of art I collect. A pet I own." A pet. That’s all he ever wanted for me. Instead, I picked up a burner phone. [I'm taking your offer. Three days. Get me the hell out of New York.]

I wake up to find the entire room shrouded in thick smoke and flames. I grab my phone and call my boyfriend, a fire captain I've been dating for five years. The phone rings seven whole times before he finally picks up. His sharp, irate voice comes through before I can get a word out. "Bella! How many times have I told you not to make false fire reports out of jealousy! You're a Warrior. Don't you feel ashamed of yourself for constantly picking fights with an Omega like Laura?" Suddenly, I hear Laura Knapp's sweet, pitiful voice on the line. "Thank you, Daniel. I'm safe because of you." As the flames spread, I have no option but to dial the emergency hotline. But the dispatcher tells me, "Sorry, ma'am, but all firefighters in your area are currently tied up. The earliest we can send help is in 30 minutes. Please hold on." I hang up with a bitter smile and see the news of a fire captain rescuing an injured pregnant woman. The flames close in around me, and just before death takes me, I send Daniel Ingram one last text. "Farewell. I wish you a happy life together."

“You should end things with him.” A husky deep voice echoes from the darkness. I freeze in place, his thick Russian accent sent shivers down my spine. I could only make out his large form from the dim lights of the smoking area. “H-how long have you been standing there?” I shivered, not from the cold but from an unsettling feeling. He chuckles richly causing my heart rate to quicken as I watch a small flicker of light before smoke puffs out into the air. “Go inside, krasotka it’s too cold for that little dress of yours...” ******** Josephine Beaumont would’ve never imagined that working as a personal nurse for a wealthy French businessman would entangle her into a deadly web of mafia rivalries. Struggling with financial issues and a toxic relationship, she catches the attention of the dangerous and ruthless Russian pakhan, Sasha Romanov and a deep dark obsession brews takes root in his heart. He stalks her every move with burning desire and manipulates their meeting in the pretense of fate, pulling her into the dangerous dark world of the mafia. Delve into this dark, steamy mafia romance filled with obsession, power, and high-stakes danger, BRATVA'S OBSESSION will leave you breathless and craving more.

I was performing the hundredth "restoration" surgery on my mafia husband's latest mistress when I finally decided to leave him. For five years, I, Isabella Rossi, have lived a double life: the respected wife of a powerful Don, and the personal physician tasked with "purifying" the women he discards. Vincent's twisted religious conviction is his law: only a wife untouched by any other man can bear his legitimate heir. I was that pure wife, yet he treated me as his most unclean possession. My love for him died a slow death. A thousand empty nights. It was killed by the cold steel of my own operating table. By the sounds of other women boasting about his touch. The five-year prenuptial agreement that bound me to this hell was set to expire at midnight. I had already called my grandfather, the only man Vincent truly fears. My escape was hours away. By the time he realized his mistake, it was too late.

During a mission overseas, I shielded my younger brother from an explosion—only to wake up months later, my body broken, my mind trapped in the void of a coma. Grateful for my sacrifice, he repaid me by marrying my wife. When I finally clawed my way back to consciousness and rushed home, I found my son kneeling on the ground, sobbing as his college acceptance letter lay shredded in his fists. My nephew loomed over him, slamming a steel pipe into his back. "Lick my shoes clean," he sneered. "Who are you to think you deserve an education?" And there was my wife clapping in delight, dabbing the sweat from my nephew’s brow like a doting servant. "You’re just like your deadbeat father," My wife spat. "Born to be my stepping stone." My eyes bloodshot, I tightened my fists. Every last one of them would pay for this dearly.

Xavier Blackwood is the man every girl at my college dreams about at night, myself included, but I'd never let anyone know that. Standing at 6'8 with steel grey eyes, he's a walking dream, but he's also a world-renowned jerk. Who would have thought that one night, after dragging myself home after doing double shifts at the diner, I'd be jumped by three men...only to have Xavier come to my rescue. Oh yes, Xavier bloody Blackwood saved my life...but the thing I saw, the CREATURE that ripped those men to shreds wasn't the Xavier everyone knows. He wasn't human... He was a wolf, a demon, a creature from myths, and it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen until he attacked me too and knocked me out. Humans that learn about the existence of werewolves have to die. ...There are NO exceptions. The Werewolf Xavier saved me, but now I am condemned to death To make things worse, both Xavier and Axel claim I am their mate ...this can't be good.

Kaya built the perfect quarterback to break her ex. She never expected him to steal her heart… again. After sacrificing everything to help her arrogant ex-husband Tom rise as captain of the nation’s biggest football team, Kaya is left humiliated and betrayed by her husband But Kaya isn’t just anyone. She is the hidden heiress of the very team Tom plays for and a Tech genius undermined by everyone, only known for her precise physics and game play. Determined to destroy him where it hurts most, Kaya uses her family’s cutting-edge tech to build Tom 2.0 a flawlessly handsome AI quarterback robot programmed to dominate the field… and drive Tom mad with jealousy. But when Tom 2.0 starts acting strangely, showing tenderness, jealousy, and even calling her by a name only one boy ever knew, Kaya’s world unravels. Because inside the steel and circuits is there a heart that beats? As secrets crack open and passions ignite, Kaya faces an impossible choice: Will she finish her revenge? Or risk everything to love what she thinks is a robot?

I was a princess of the sea. And the moment I saw the werewolf Alpha, Dominic, I fell. Hard. I wanted to be his mate. To be part of his world. So I sacrificed everything I was to the Moon Goddess. But he locked me in the pack's isolation room for three days. To "think about what I'd done." All because I didn't rush to help his childhood friend, Harper. She took a dive at the pack banquet, and the room erupted in laughter. Harper cried and collapsed into Dominic’s arms. "Marina must be jealous of how good you are to me. She used her outsider magic to make me fall in front of everyone!" As he locked me away, Dominic's eyes were full of disappointment. "I've spoiled you, Marina. And now you're using my love as a weapon against my own people. Three days. When you're ready to submit, you will contact me through the mind link and apologize. Only then will I let you out." But he didn't know the truth. Burning sage soothes a werewolf's spirit. But for a mermaid, it’s poison. The smoke scorched my lungs. The poison flooded my veins. I suffocated in that sealed room. And no one ever knew.

" I thought...I..owe you a child only..", Katherine whimpered in pain, several shreds of glasses making their way deeper into her skin. " Yes but now... you owe me your body too, Principessa.", Ace replied with a sly grin, the dark layer of smoke hiding the demons behind his hazel eyes. ********* Twenty years old, Katherine Harper had everything in her life, a perfect grade,sweet boyfriend and an unfulfilled dream of becoming the next top international fashion designer. Returning to her homeland after years spent abroad, Katherine was all ready to settle down with her long time boyfriend, Nathaniel Cooper. But on the day of her engagement ceremony,she never expected to meet her ex-boyfriend, Ace King who had now become the next billionaire in town. Ruthless, Cold, arrogant, Ace wasn't the same like her childhood lover from the past.When she accepted the bitter destiny that they let go of their past, Ace started to influence her emotions mentally and sometimes physically. Secrets were yet to reveal, hatred was yet to turn in love and Katherine had yet to fall in his Devil's Trap. At the end, Katherine had yet to learn that you can never hate a person whom you loved once.