Ivanov Crime Family

I took her innocence as payment. She was far too young and naïve to be betrothed to a monster like me. I would bring only pain and darkness into her sheltered world. That's why she ran. I should've just let her go. She never asked to marry into a powerful Russian mafia family. Unfortunately for her, I don't care. I own her, and after three years of searching, I've found her. My runaway bride was about to learn disobedience has consequences...punishing ones. Nothing was going to keep me from claiming her before the eyes of God and man. She's mine now, and I'm never letting her go.

When I give an order, I expect it to be obeyed. She's too smart for her own good, and it's going to get her killed. Against my better judgement, I put her under the protection of my powerful Russian mafia family. So imagine my anger when the little minx ran. For three long years I've been on her trail, always one step behind. Finding and claiming her had become an obsession. It was getting harder to rein in my driving need to possess her... to own her. But now the chase is over. I've found her. Soon she will be mine.

Her innocence was going to get her killed. That was if I didn't get to her first. She's the protected little sister of the powerful Ivanov Russian mafia family–the very definition of forbidden. It’s always been my job, as their Head of Security, to watch over her but never to touch. That ends today. She disobeyed me and put herself in danger. It was time to take her in hand. I’m the only one who can save her and I will fight anyone who tries to stop me, including her brothers. Honor and loyalty be damned. She’s mine now.

I'm the only one standing between her and those who want her dead. She sees a monster when she looks at me—blood-stained hands, a heart blackened by violence. What she doesn't see is that those same hands are the only thing keeping her alive. She runs from me, again and again. But every escape only drags her closer to the enemies hunting us both. She burns with hatred for the cage I've built around her… And yet, there's heat beneath the fury. A hunger neither of us can outrun.

I'm not the hero in this story—I'm the monster who claimed what wasn't his to take. I was supposed to sell her to the highest bidder, a marriage that would seal alliances and strengthen her family's power. But seeing her bloodied and defiant changed everything. Her father and brother thought they could use her as a pawn. They didn't realize I was playing a different game entirely. I destroyed them all, leaving her seemingly free—only to chain her to me instead. She thinks she can escape, build a normal life away from the violence she was born into.

She was supposed to be a problem—one I would deal with, forget, erase. Instead, she became my obsession. A hotel maid drowning in her father's debts, working among killers and Bratva bosses, believing silence would keep her safe. Then she saw something she shouldn't. She should have run. Should have screamed. Should have begged. Instead, she held my gaze, defiant and unbroken. Now, I can't let her go. The only way to keep her alive is to make her mine—a marriage that will satisfy Bratva law and place her firmly under my control. What I offer isn't protection. It's possession.