Chapter 1

• “Powerful men shouldn't fall in love. Love makes men vulnerable and weak.” That was Adrian's policy and he vowed to live by it.
• Adrian Draven, the most feared mafia lord in Chicago, runs his empire with an iron fist, and has no weakness that could make him vulnerable to his enemies.
• He swung wildly on his leather-upholstered couch, the chandelier casting glowing lights on the marble floors. He was clenching a half bottle of whiskey in his hand while his other hand was also clenched in a raging fist.
• “How could he be so careless?” he muttered in frustration.
• He had just arrived from the burial of his closest and trusted friend, Dominic.
• Adrian had always warned Dominic about his soft heart for women who appeared weak and vulnerable, but he never listened.
• Dominic had bought a maid from an auction house a year ago and fell deeply for her. He loved, cared for her and gave her all access to him, but Dominic was found dead in his bedroom last week and the lady had recently disappeared without trace.
• Adrian's jaw clamped shut again as he gulped down a second whiskey, the bitter fire burning down his throat.
• Marco, one of his able men, stood in front of him. He barely even lifted his head when the man entered the room.
• "Did you find her?" Adrian's voice was coarse, rough, his anger was very evident and he was trying not to explode. But he desperately needed someone to pour out all the anger on, hoping it would be the ungrateful maid who was the potential suspect for Dominic’s murder.
• Marco hesitated. "It's like she disappeared from the face of the earth."
• Adrian's eyes snapped up, his black eyes sparring with Marco's. "I own this city, Marco. She can't be anywhere beyond my reach in this city. Find her, even if you have to turn this city upside down.” Adrian relaxed back into the couch, breathing heavily as he tried to contain the rage in him. “She can't get away with this. I'll make her beg for death.”
• Marco shook his head. "Yes boss. The autopsy reports are out,” he stretched out an envelope to Adrian. “He was poisoned, and it was a kind of poison that doesn't harm or show effects until after six months of dosage. And the maid fled on the night he was found dead, she was the only one who had complete access to him and also prepared his meals. So there's no better suspect."
• Adrian's grip on the bottle of whiskey tightened. Six months.
• Dominic had loved and trusted this woman with his entire life, he worshipped the ground she walked on. But she murdered him slowly with a smile.
• "She might be a spy who was sent to kill him and he walked right into their trap,” Marco added and swallowed hard, hoping he didn’t infuriate Adrian’s anger.
• Adrian didn't say anything. He ran his fingers through his hair and rubbed it down his face, in an attempt to ease the fire burning in him.
• ‘Love makes men weak. And weakness kills men.’ but Dominic didn't follow his policy, and now he laid six feet underground.
• Adrian rose from the couch, still holding his bottle and walked towards the staircase.
• Marco knew better than to say anything in this situation, he had never seen his boss like this; but with the level of bond and trust between him and his deceased friend, it wasn’t surprising. He quietly moved out of the way and watched Adrian go.
• ***************
• Evelyn Moretti sat in front of her mirror brushing and packing her long silky, black hair as she prepared for bed. She had been confined to Adrian’s mansion since she lost her father to a terminal illness, four years ago.
• Evelyn’s father was associated with Adrian, they were both in the mafia business together. She had always admired Adrian’s demeanor and personality. The way he supported her and her father when he was ill, made her respect him more. But the whole support was a debt her father died with, and Adrian took her as a payment without giving her a chance to repay him.
• He treated her with so much care and possessiveness, like he would kill anyone who breathed in her direction.
• Her transparent night-gown clung to her body as she sat there, thinking of how angry and hurt Adrian looked today. She had cut through the whirl of his eyes when he had come to see her before he left for the funeral. He was a kind of man who doesn't like showing his emotions, he doesn't grieve like others, he drowned in it in fury and violence, but she could see through him, after spending almost every day and night with him, she could read him like a book, and couldn't help but care about him, even if she didn't want to.
• ‘Now he was back and he was coming here tonight.’ she thought. Every of his pain and anger belonged to her body, she was a source of pleasure and stress reliever to him. That was her life for the past four years.
• Her own hand trembled to reach for a hair packer, she wasn't trembling because of fear for Adrian but for the anticipation of what he was going to do with her tonight.
• She had hoped that he would forget about her while grieving his friend, but she knew better.
• The door swung open with a force that made her shiver. She turned back to see Adrian standing in the doorway, shirtless, and a bottle of whiskey clutched in his hand.
• The golden light highlighted his toned and sculpted muscles, the sawteeth of his muscle edge. His dark hair was rough as if he had run his fingers through it multiple times.
• But his eyes were cold, empty and hungry.
• Evelyn jerked up, pulling the thin fabric of her nightgown tightly around her body.
• "Adrian—"
• The whiskey bottle slipped from his fingers, and the glass shattered with a loud noise around his feet. But he didn't care. He stepped over them and moved further into the room.
• She stepped, but her hips collided with the dressing table. Within seconds he was towering over her with his hands on either side of the table caging her in. the mixture of the whiskey scent and his cologne filled her lungs, suffocating her.
• And he kissed her, hard, desperate and demanding.
• Evelyn gasped on his mouth, her body tensed in his arms. She knew this part of him well, the way he consumed her and took what he wanted without asking for permission.
• But he was different tonight. She could feel his pain and agony with the way his lips moved, buried beneath the hunger.
• His arms went around her waist and pulled her against his bare chest. She trembled at the warmth of his skin on her own.
• She didn't resist him, she let him do what he wanted, because that was all she had ever been to him. A means to forget pain.
• Evelyn's lips parted to give him the entrance he was desperately seeking, and kissed him back with the same energy, which made him groaned into her mouth
• He took off her nightgown and explored her body as if he could find solace in the softness of her skin. She moaned in pleasure against the dressing table, letting him feast on her body, because he had claimed her and she was his.
• Not in the way she wanted to be, though.
• Her fingers traced from his broad shoulders to his chest and she could feel his heart beat fast against her hand.
• For a brief second, she had wished things were different and she had meant more to him.
• But Adrian Draven doesn't love, he sees it as a form of weakness.
• But still, she cared and yearned for more of him, and let him break her, over and over.
• They were both naked on her bed and sounds of their whispers and moans filled the room, as he buried himself inside her and their bodies moved in a rhythmic dance of sinful pleasure till they both reached their climax. But he didn't loosen his grip on her.
• He slept off with his head resting on her bare breast and arms flung around her naked body.
• She ran her fingers in his dark hair as she felt her slow and steady breathing against her skin and he looked almost vulnerable.
• She should feel safe and wanted. But all she felt was trapped.
• She stared down at him and opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but the words couldn’t form.
• No matter how much she yearned and wished for it;
• She would never be free.