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*

I had just finished dressing when I headed straight to my study, not bothering to slow down or reconsider the exhaustion weighing on my body.


Not when I had barely gotten three hours of sleep after receiving the report of the attack on Nico.


As if Gotti almost being burned alive in his own house wasn't enough chaos for one night.


I was glad my husband was dead—but that didn't mean I had any intention of joining him in the afterlife anytime soon.


Pushing the door open, I walked into the study without acknowledging Harry, my personal bodyguard and assistant, who followed closely behind me with a stack of reports and documents in his hands.


I had just settled into my seat when I reached for the papers, flipping through them one by one. My eyes scanned each page carefully, committing every detail to memory until I could repeat the contents without looking.


Chapter 68 - A Head