Carmen Castilo was the only daughter of one of the most powerful mafia dons in the city—until the night her father was shot in front of her.

At his funeral, while the family mourns, Carmen disappears.

Kidnapped from her own home and drugged, she wakes beneath blinding lights in an underground auction where the most powerful criminals in the world gather to bid—not on weapons or territory, but on her.

To them, Carmen isn’t just a woman.

She’s the last piece of her father’s empire.

The final bid reaches a staggering one billion dollars.

The buyer is Nico Romano—the stepbrother she betrayed five years ago.

Once cast out of the family after Carmen accused him of treachery, Nico returns more powerful, more ruthless, and determined to collect the debt he believes she owes him.

Escape is impossible.

Alone, stripped of allies, and trapped under Nico’s control, Carmen is forced to play by his rules—a calculated system of rewards and consequences he calls repayment.

But Nico isn’t the only one playing a game.

While he believes he owns her, Carmen is quietly rebuilding what was stolen from her. Someone murdered her father, and the deeper she digs, the clearer it becomes that his death—and her reason for getting Nico’s exiled—may have been part of the same carefully planned conspiracy.

Surrounded by enemies and secrets, Carmen must reclaim her father’s empire before it falls permanently into the wrong hands.

And the one man who might damn her soul…may also be the only ally powerful enough to help her win.

*Please this is a mafia story. If you’re uncomfortable with blood and killing this is not the story for you*

"What do you have?" she asked, her shoulders straight and squared, her calm gaze steady in a way that suggested she had done this too many times to count. Experience sat on her like a second skin. It also helped that she was probably three times my age, and wore that fact like quiet armor.


"Your father's business?" she added, tilting her head just slightly.


The question pulled a frown from me before I could stop it.


"No. Not that," I said quickly, sharper than I intended. I forced myself to relax my jaw, to smooth out the reaction. "An agreement. You want a territory—I can help you get one."


I held her gaze as I spoke, fixing my eyes on her face like I could anchor the moment there. And that was when it hit me—that familiar, unwelcome gut realization that always came too late and too clear.


Chapter 62 - Threats