They already killed him, so I know they won’t hesitate to do the same to me. With nowhere to run or hide, I buy a one-way ticket to Milan to audition for Barsetti Lingerie in the hope I can start a new life.

I owe him a debt. A big one. The payment can't be settled with money or favors. He only wants one thing. Me. Every action gets a reward. A button. Once I fill his jar with 365 buttons, he'll let me go. He'll let me walk away. But I have to earn every single one. By submitting to the darkest, cruelest, and most beautiful man I've ever known.

I was 21 when the gypsy read my future: As punishment for your crimes, you will only love one woman...but she'll never love you back. I didn't believe a word of it. Until I met Sofia Romano almost 10 years later. I fell hard for this woman. Would die for this woman. But she left me. Now, years have passed, and Sofia needs a husband. Her father is gone, and her mother is trying to marry her off to a man that can protect their family, protect their company. Now, it's my chance to have the only woman I've ever loved...and I'll make sure she feels the same way.

My father has chosen me to succeed him in the family business. But if I want the job, it comes with stipulations. And one of those stipulations is to never mix business with pleasure. AKA, don't sleep with anyone on the job. My father leads by example, and not once have I ever seen him get involved with anyone, not even his beautiful assistant. That was an easy rule to follow...until Axel.

I found out my husband of three years had cheated on me and his mistress is the one who told me—because he didn’t have the balls to do it himself. I move out and get a new apartment, a job as a bartender, and try to move on with a broken heart. I wonder where it all went wrong, if I hadn’t been enough for him, if I’d been stupid for marrying him in the first place. I’m at work one night when he walks inside—the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. He sits at the bar and a forest fire burns between us.

When I tried to leave, Grave forced me to stay. He's obsessed with me, and not in the good kind of way. Griffin is out of the game, but he gives me a piece of information that can set me free. I travel to Cap-Ferrat, in the south of France, and find this powerful man. But he's not the least bit interested in helping me. Not for free, at least. If I want his protection, I'll have to make it worth his while.

You want to know the secret to everlasting happiness? Never fall in love. That was the wisdom my father imparted to us James boys after our mom died, and it’s a piece of advice that’s served me well. Until dear old Dad asks me for a favor over Sunday brunch. No big deal, right? I love making my old man happy. Except this “favor” is a lot more complicated than picking up his dry cleaning. Dad wants me to marry and provide a few heirs for the James empire, and he’s even done me the courtesy of handpicking my bride-to-be. Lucky me.

My father married me off to one of the most powerful men in Italy. Maverick DeVille. But I call him the wolf. He calls me his sheep. The arranged marriage was detested by us both, but we had to make sacrifices for the right reasons. He needed to avenge his mother, and I needed protection from the mobs that want to torture me. He's not what I pictured for my husband. He's ruthless, calloused, and cold. His walls are higher than mine. He possesses cruelty that makes him feared. But it doesn't take long for me to respect him...even like him.

They've taken my father. They'll take me next unless I comply with their demands. Taking down the most powerful man in Italy. Cato Marino. The man is accompanied by his security team everywhere he goes. His fortress in Tuscany is impenetrable. He's the most paranoid man in the country.

I wake up chained to the bed of a stranger. He says I’m his wife. I have nothing—no money. No friends. No escape. He’s everything I never imagined: ruthless, calculating, feared. A beautiful monster with a face like a god’s, cold and untouchable. A mafia kingpin whose wealth could buy empires and whose power makes the world tremble. My captor. My husband.