Chapter 1
Late at night, my shift on the cruise ship had just ended. Gunfire tore through the hallway.
I ran. A masked man kicked in a door and grabbed me around the waist.
He shoved a gun against my forehead. “You want to live?”
Cold sweat broke out on my skin. His voice sounded familiar somehow. I didn't have time to think about why.
“My boss got drugged bad,” he said. “Some aphrodisiac his own crew slipped him. You're going to fix that for him.”
“No, please, I have a fiancé, let me go.” I shoved at his chest with both hands.
He laughed, low and mean. “You know who my boss is? Don Cole. You just landed yourself a Don. Why would you still want a fiancé?”
My eyes burned. I kicked him hard in the shin. “I love my fiancé. Find someone else!”
“Someone else?” He didn't budge. “Where am I supposed to find another woman right now?”
He leaned in. “As for your precious fiancé, I can find his address and his job in ten minutes. Fight me tonight, refuse the Don, and by tomorrow morning I'll have someone cut him into pieces and dump him in the sewer.”
I shook, furious and terrified at once. I bit down hard on my lip.
He tied my hands behind my back and dragged me through the door of a reinforced suite.
“Don, I found you a girl.”
Cole's eyes snapped open. Blood vessels stood out red across them. He looked at me like I was a threat.
“Get her out.”
The enforcer kept his head down, but his voice didn't waver. “Don, you won't make it through the night on your own. This one's got no ties worth worrying about. Just a broke fiancé. Pay him off later. And she's willing.”
He threw me onto Cole's bed. No warning, no care.
Before he shut the door, he leaned down and said, low, “Behave. Don't push your luck.”
I grabbed a pillow and threw it at his masked face. The door was already closing.
It was just me and Cole now.
The veins on his forehead stood out. His breathing was rough, dangerous.
He lasted maybe another minute. Then he grabbed my wrist and pulled me down onto the bed.
“Sorry. Can I? What's your name?”
Fear pinned me down. I had no room to say no. My voice shook. “Nina.”
He came down over me.