He's not just a criminal-he's a king in the underworld. A ruthless leader who commands two of LA's most dangerous gangs. And now, I belong to him. Kidnapped. Trapped in a gilded cage with no escape. I should be terrified, desperate to run. But his touch is intoxicating, his presence irresistible. He says he took me for a reason. That my father wants him dead. Can I trust the man who stole me? Or is he playing a game far deadlier than I realize? The truth will shatter everything. And when it does, I'll have to make an impossible choice: Betray the family I've always known... Or surrender to the man who owns my soul.
Chapter 1 THE HITMAN
ALEXANDER'S POV
Maybe I had waited too long to bring the whole thing up. The truth was, I wanted to keep them out of it for as long as possible, my closest friends, my greatest allies. I knew they wouldn't take it well that someone was trying to kill me.
Especially when that someone was Vincent Graves, the most notorious hitman in the business.
But I was sure now, and there was no more time to waste.
The five of us were having brunch at a little downtown cafe, the kind that you couldn't find unless you knew it was there. The waiters here were like family, and so it felt like the safest place to begin to plan things-out on the patio under a large, sun-bleached umbrella.
"There's something I need to tell you, the reason I brought you all here today," I said, my serious tone.
The conversation around the table fell silent and they all turned to look at me.
Caleb's face, as usual, was hard as a rock and difficult to read. I trusted the Russian man's judgment though, and I knew he would be the first to protect me.
"What? You mean you don't just want to spend time with us?" Elias jokes, earning him a stern look from Jonah. At thirty he was the youngest of the group, and this tended to show through his playful demeanor.
Jonah, on the other hand, was always serious. Not unreadable like Caleb, but instead like a calm and sturdy boulder that I always knew I could count on.
"Now is not the time, Elias," Luca said, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. He was the only one who I had told beforehand. I needed him to be able to gather intel so we could properly plan things out. The information we had been able to find on Vicent was scarce, but it was better than nothing.
"What is it?" Jonah asked, leaning towards me looking expectant. He probably had some idea of what was going on, he was intuitive like that.He had known me for the longest, too, and I was sure that had something to do with it.
After all, I didn't think of myself as a man that's easy to read, even if I am more emotive than Caleb.
"I just got it confirmed yesterday, so we still have time," I began, looking at each of them individually.
"But I'm definitely being targeted."
"By who?" Caleb asked, his voice gruff and deep.
"Vincent Graves."
There was a collective groan all around the table.
"Shit, that sucks," Elias said.
"Nathan, that dirty bastard."
"Let's not jump to conclusions yet," Luca said. He always liked to reason things through, and not cause unnecessary conflict.
"We don't know for sure if Nathan is the one who sent him."
"But who else would?"
"It's true that Nathan has the means and the motive to send Vincent after Alex," Jonah said. He looked deep in thought, his forehead wrinkling with lines of determination and contemplation.
Nathan Kane could be called my rival in the business. There were two large gangs that ran the streets of Los Angeles when it came to drugs. He led one of them, and I led the other.
I had known for a while that Nathan was tired of the competition, and of the ways that I kept his gang in check, but I hadn't thought he would resort to hiring a hitman this quickly.
After all, I had my Four, the friends that were with me now, and they wouldn't just let the gang go to ruins if I was shot and killed.
No, I'd reckon if I was, Nathan would have more to contend with than he had bargained for.
"The issue right now is not if it's Nathan sending Vincent after me," I said.
"The issue is that Vincent is going to try to kill me. Unfortunately for him, we know what's going on, so we have the advantage. So right now, we need to figure out what we want to do about it."
"Now, we don't have much information about him," Luca said.
"We know he started as a hitman to provide for his family. He had a wife, dead now, and still has a daughter. As far as I know, she has no idea what her father does for a living."
"Let's keep her out of it then," Jonah said. "I would hate to drag an innocent person into this, even if she is his daughter."
"Agreed," I said.
"Can we kill him?" Caleb asked.
"That would seem like the most logical solution," Jonah responded.
"Or we could get him shipped out somewhere overseas," Elias suggested.
"How in the hell would you make that happen?" Jonah asked.
Elias shrugged in response. "I don't know. That's for you to figure out."
"So we kill him." Caleb took a long drink of his coffee.
I nodded. "It seems like our only option."
"Hey!" Elias said at the same time that Luca tapped my arm, fear in his dark brown eyes.
"Luca, what is it?" I asked in a whisper.
"He's here, right now," he said, pointing to a pair of figures walking up the street towards us.It was Vincent , and his daughter, Natalya.
They were talking together and laughing. The two of them were clearly close, from the way Natalya leaned in. The trusting look in her eyes killed me. She had no idea how bad of a man her father was. It made me want to tell her the truth.
F**k.
I hadn't been counting on this. I was terribly attracted to her. She was the kind of beautiful that people wrote poems and songs about.
She had dark wavy hair that went to her collar bone, and the most enchanting green eyes I had ever seen. Her figure was short and curvy, and she was built in a way that reminded me of the muses of ancient Rome.
Truly a woman to inspire art. Or war.
"We should take care of it now, while we have the chance," Caleb said, interrupting my thoughts as the pair were seated by one of the wait staff.
They hadn't seemed to notice us, and I couldn't help but agree that now could very well be the most opportune time.
"I can make it quick, quiet, just like you like it," Caleb added, eyeing the pair as if he was already calculating the shot he would take to finish it.
"No, we can't do this now," Jonah said.
"Not with his daughter here. She's innocent."
"I'm not going to shoot her," Caleb said with a shrug as if that was the problem.
Jonah glared at him. "That's not what I'm worried about. Can you imagine how traumatizing it would be, to have her father die in front of her?"
"He will die either way." Caleb wasn't getting it, but I could see where he was coming from. Now was our chance, and we had ourselves to worry about first.
"She's getting up," Luca said. If we want to do it now, we should do it while she's away.
Jonah looked visibly torn. I knew he wanted to protect me, but it was likely he was thinking of his own trauma right now. I knew he didn't want to inflict that on anyone else either.
"You guys can do what you want, just do it soon," Elias said. "There'll be more people on this street the later it gets, and you guys know how much I hate damage control."
Thoughts were spinning around in my mind as I took one last look at Vincent Graves, sitting there alone, waiting for his daughter to come back.
"Want me to do it now?" Caleb asked, as serious as ever.
"No," I said, knowing my answer would surprise all of them.
I was a fan of getting things done quick and tidy-like, but in this situation, I knew that there was another way, a better way in fact.
"We're not doing anything yet," I said. "But don't worry, I'm not going to let Graves get the better of me. I have an idea, one that will stop him from killing me without any bloodshed."
"And how do you intend to do that?" Luca asked.
"You'll see, in time," I said, watching as Natalya took her place back at the table with her father.
Chapter 1 THE HITMAN
08/02/2025
Chapter 2 A BONDED PAIR
08/02/2025
Chapter 3 NOTHING'S EVER SAFE IN THIS BUISNESS
08/02/2025
Chapter 4 LOST MEMORIES
08/02/2025
Chapter 5 ALEXANDER F**KING MORTTENI
08/02/2025
Chapter 6 IF ONLY HE WASN'T EVIL...
08/02/2025
Chapter 7 THE KISS
08/02/2025
Chapter 8 UNCONTROLLABLE THOUGHS OF HER
08/02/2025
Chapter 9 Enjoying yourself, darling
08/02/2025
Chapter 10 MATURE CONTENT
08/02/2025
Chapter 11 You've set quite a high bar.
08/02/2025
Chapter 12 ABOUT ALEXANDER
08/02/2025
Chapter 13 A CHANCE TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT
08/02/2025
Chapter 14 A DRESS FOR HER
08/02/2025
Chapter 15 RICH
08/02/2025
Chapter 16 HE LOVES ANIMALS
08/02/2025
Chapter 17 YOU LOOK LOVELY
08/02/2025
Chapter 18 PROMISE ME SOMETHING
28/02/2025
Chapter 19 I'M SORRY, NATALYA
28/02/2025
Chapter 20 A GOOD GUY
02/03/2025
Chapter 21 THE ESCAPE
05/03/2025
Chapter 22 THE WEIRD SAVIOR
05/03/2025
Chapter 23 RAGE
05/03/2025
Chapter 24 FEAR
10/03/2025
Chapter 25 NICE WORDS
10/03/2025
Chapter 26 A TRUCE
14/03/2025
Chapter 27 A DIVINE SPECIMEN
14/03/2025
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