Sold to a mafia billionaire

make me fall for you. Because if I fall, Ava, I won't let you go. Ever._ What did that mean? He bought her like property. He was a mafia billionaire who people whisp

ad been eating her since her father sold her. "You don't need two million dollars. You're a billionaire. Why me?" Something flashed in his eyes. Anger. Pain. Something older than her. "Because your father stole from me," he said. "And when people steal from me, I take something they love. He loved money more than you, so he gave you up easily. That's not my fault." "He doesn't love me," Ava said bitterly. "He never did. I was always just a mouth to feed." For a second, Alaric's cold mask slipped. He looked at her like he understood that feeling. "Come here," he said. She didn't move. "Ava. Come here." It wasn't a request. It was a command. The kind of voice that made men twice his size obey. She took one small step forward. He reached out, and for a second she thought he would grab her. Instead, his hand - large, warm, rough with calluses - gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. The touch was so soft, so opposite to everything she knew about him, that tears sprang to her eyes. "Why are you crying?" he asked, frowning. "Because no one has touched me like that before. Like I'm... fragile." "You are fragile," he said. "That's why I put you in that room upstairs, away from my world. Do you know what my men would do if they saw you walking around in that?" His eyes dropped again to her chest, and his jaw tightened. "They would want you. And I don't share what's mine." His possessiveness should have scared her. Instead, it made her knees weak. "I'm not yours," she whispered, but it sounded like a lie even to her. He smiled, but it wasn't kind. It was dark, dangerous, promising. "Not yet." He stepped even closer, until there was almost no space between them. She had to tilt her head up to look at him. "But you will be. Every inch of you. Every breath. Every heartbeat. I bought you, Ava, but I w