“Stop. Please, stop.”
Adriana’s voice broke on the words, but the man she’d married three hours earlier didn’t so much as glance at her. His hands were still red with another man’s blood, and he was reaching for her throat like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“You made me do this on our wedding night, tesoro.” His grip was gentle even as it promised violence. “Remember that, the next time you think about defying me.”
Three weeks ago, Adriana Ferretti was planning a wedding to a man she’d chosen for herself, a quiet, kind architect who made her laugh and never once made her afraid.
Then her father sat her down and told her that wedding was never going to happen.
She’d been promised at seven years old to settle a debt she never knew existed, and the man collecting was done waiting. Matteo Falcone doesn’t ask. He arrives, he claims what’s his, and the life she built for herself gets buried the same night as the man who made the mistake of standing between them.
Now she’s his wife in every way that matters to men like him: legally, publicly, permanently. Running isn’t an option. Matteo has spent his entire life turning problems into corpses, and he’s made it clear that finding her would only be a matter of time and patience, both of which he has in endless supply.
Adriana has two choices left. Survive the man who owns her by becoming exactly as cold as he is, or find the one thing his enemies never could: a way past the ice around whatever is left of his heart.
Because underneath the blood and the threats and the terrifying calm, Adriana is starting to see something Matteo has spent years making sure no one else ever finds. And she’s the only person alive he hasn’t killed for getting too close.