All Chapters of The Mafia King's Contract Bride: Chapter 1 - Chapter 6

DAMIAN The Moretti mansion smelled like desperation wearing expensive perfume and I have been in enough rooms like this one to know the difference between real power and the performance of it. Crystal chandeliers, imported marble, and a string quartet tucked into the corner like this was a different era entirely. Zach Moretti had built all of this on borrowed fear and other people's silence, and tonight that silence had a price tag attached to it.I moved through the party without stopping, and people stepped aside without being asked. They always did, though I had stopped noticing it years ago. Attention was simply the cost of being me, and I had never found it particularly interesting. Matteo fell into pace beside me, just half a pace behind, the way he always did. “Moretti says he's ready for you,” he informed quietly.“Good,” I replied flatly. “It's good to see he loves his life.”************I saw her before she saw me. She was moving along the far edge of the hall, a tray b

DAMIAN I arrived twenty minutes early. It was not by accident. Keeping to time counts as one of my rules. I adhere to it and so, I never forgive anyone who fails to. Zach Moretti met me at the door himself,dressed up as hospitality."Mr. De Luca." He extended a hand I didn't take. "Thank you for coming. Everything is prepared in the reception room.”I walked past him without a word and Matteo tailed behind. The housekeeper led us towards the reception. The room was exactly as staged as I expected. Zach's wife sat stiffly near the window, her daughter beside her, composed, watching me the way people watch something they're trying to decide whether to fear or charm. A handful of staff arranged at the edges of the room like furnitures.But she was not there. I turned to Zach who had walked in, but I didn't ask immediately. I let the silence stretch, watched Zach's composure strain under the weight of it, watched his wife's hands fold a little tighter in her lap. People revealed mor

DAMIAN I walked into the hall and Dominic stood over a man at the far end. He was tied to an electric seat, his body battered but not to my satisfaction. I wouldn't kill him yet, a slow death would be best for a bastard like him.He froze the moment he saw me and Dominic turned sharply. “Boss.” he bowed and shifted to greet Matteo. I walked towards the bastard but a sound from outside made me halt, and I moved before I could register where it was coming from. I stepped out and suddenly stopped at the scene in front of me. Seraphina, out of the car. Exactly where I told her not to be, a battered Christy trying to fight an armed man in a mask. The man raised his gun and I crossed the distance immediately. My hand closed around the gunman's wrist, redirecting the barrel toward the concrete a half second before he fired. The shot cracked into the ground and I broke his grip on the weapon, drove my elbow into his jaw, and had him on his knees before he understood the fight was already