Chapter 1 - THE TANGLED WEB
Vincent’s dark eyes locked onto hers, cold and calculated, yet burning with an unreadable intensity. The bass continued to thump through the velvet-lined walls of the club, but in their small orbit, time had entirely stopped.
“What rumor?” Nora repeated, her voice barely a whisper against the roaring pulse of her own blood.
“By sitting on my lap and letting me turn away your pursuer,” Vincent said, his fingers tightening just a fraction against her waist, “you made everyone in this room believe you belong to me. In my world, Nora, a man who lets a woman sit in his lap and shields her doesn’t do so out of charity. He does it because she holds value to him.”
Nora’s breath hitched. “I don’t hold value to anyone. I’m just trying to survive.”
“Then let’s make a deal that ensures you do,” he replied smoothly. He signaled to one of his guards, who immediately produced a sleek black phone and tapped the screen. “My family—the Moretti Syndicate—is currently in the middle of a power struggle with the city’s district attorney and rival families who think I’m losing my edge. They think I’m ruthless, heartless, and untouchable. But a man with a sudden, soft weakness—a woman he protects violently—is a man who draws his enemies into the light.”
“You want to use me as bait?” Nora gasped, trying to pull away.
Vincent didn’t let her move an inch. “I want to give you absolute protection. Cameron Hale will never touch you again. You will live in my estate, eat my food, wear clothes that hide the bruises he gave you, and in return, you play the role of my secret obsession. You pretend to be the woman who tamed Vincent Moretti.”
Before Nora could answer, the heavy double doors at the VIP entrance burst open. A man in an expensive navy suit marched in, flanked by two armed police detectives. It was Marcus Vance, the relentless Assistant District Attorney who had been trying to put Vincent behind bars for five years.
“Moretti!” Vance called out, his voice cutting through the ambient music. “We have a warrant to search the premises. Word is you’re harbouring a fugitive—or worse, holding a woman against her will.”
Cameron Hale stepped out from behind the detective, a smug, sickening grin plastered across his face. He had run straight to the cops, playing the hysterical, devoted boyfriend whose fragile, mentally unstable girlfriend had been kidnapped by Chicago’s most dangerous mob boss.
“There she is!” Cameron shouted, pointing a dramatic finger at Nora. “Look at her! He’s forcing her to sit there! Nora, baby, come here! I’m saving you!”
Nora felt her heart freeze. The familiar panic rushed through her veins—the suffocating weight of Cameron’s manipulation. He was going to use the police to drag her back into his personal hell.
Vincent leaned in close to her ear, his breath warm against her cold skin. “This is your choice, sweetheart. Go back to the wolf, or step into the dragon’s den. What’s it going to be?”
Nora looked at Cameron’s triumphant eyes, then down at Vincent’s steady, unyielding hand. She took a deep breath, wrapped her arms around Vincent’s neck, and buried her face in his shoulder, letting out a soft, trembling sob that sounded exquisitely helpless.
“Get him away from me, Vincent,” she whispered loudly enough for the detectives to hear. “Please... don’t let him take me back.”
Vincent’s mouth twitched into a sharp, dangerous smile. He looked up at the Assistant District Attorney and Cameron.
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“You heard the lady, Gentlemen,” Vincent said, his voice dropping into a register that made the ambient temperature in the room drop ten degrees. “Now get the hell out of my club before I decide your presence is a personal insult.”
Cameron’s face turned pale as the realization hit him: Nora hadn’t been captured. She had chosen the monster over him.
