Reign of a Billionaire : A Dark Mafia Enemies-to-Lovers Romance

“I’m so sorry,” she croaked, her cries ripping at my heart. Her face was blotchy and pink, her split lips trembling. Sofia wanted to harden my Lou, make her indifferent to human suffering. But deep in her core, that wasn’t who Louisa was.

“It’s okay. You’re not hurting me,” I assured her while she shook like a leaf. Seeing her pain was gut-wrenching. Blood gushed out of my cuts, but still I cared more for her well-being. She hadn’t actually laid a hand on me, but her presence during the sessions was enough to shatter her.

“I’m okay,” I repeated, barely managing to reassure her with a smile. Before I could say anything else, another punch across my face connected.

“Please stop hitting him,” she begged her mother’s men.

Another punched me in the stomach, stealing my breath. I spit blood, my vision turning blurry.

Louisa’s screams turned haunted, her voice hoarse. I locked on to her blotchy face, her expression full of terror. I refused to pass out. I had to hang on for her. She started fighting against the men who held her, giving her an inch only to pull her back.

“Stop! Please stop,” she begged, her eyes red-rimmed. Fresh tears streamed down her bruised cheeks. “It was my fault.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

I couldn’t let them hurt her.

I lost consciousness several times. The next time I peeled my eyelids open, it was to an eerie silence. I was no longer tied up.

It’d been days, possibly weeks. I had no idea how long I’d been imprisoned. Time was an abstract concept as I drifted in and out of consciousness. Every breath was agony, and my entire body screamed in pain from the bones I was sure were fractured.

But I didn’t give up.

I held on for Lou, my eyes locked on her, drawing strength from God knew where and offering it back. Except she wasn’t moving, and whatever morsel of hope I had left extinguished as I watched her lifeless body sprawled on the filthy ground, her long golden locks stained with my blood.

“Wake up, sunshine,” I said. Please don’t leave me.

She didn’t move, lying still like a broken angel. “Please wake up. We have to get somewhere warm. P-please wake up, baby.”

My voice cracked, mirroring my heart. I’d never begged for anything. Not when I was tortured and abused within an inch of my life, not when I wished death on those responsible. But now, I begged and pleaded, calling on whatever deity or divine being to spare her life.

The answer was my own whisper in the cell, my battered body too weak to move. But I willed myself to. I’d die with my hand on her beating pulse, on her chest as it rose and fell.

Crawling on all fours, my muscles shuddered, protested, and became weaker with each inch of space I covered. I felt my energy—what little life I had left—being drained as I fought to get to her.

I reached out, my hand brushing against her ice-cold skin. My breath caught as I draped myself over her unmoving body. She looked as though she were sleeping peacefully, despite her bruised body.

“Wake up, sunshine.” No response. I didn’t care if they continued to beat me until I was no longer recognizable, as long as she lived. “Don’t… leave… me…” I pleaded.

Her left wrist, mangled from where they’d broken it, was cradled against her chest, her body curled up. Unmoving. But my sanity refused to accept that she was dead. There had to be a way to bring her back. I’d do anything. I’d give anything.

The small tattoo on her nape—the one matching mine—played peekaboo and I pushed her hair over it, hiding it as she always did.

“I love you.” I whispered the words her romantic heart lived for.

She didn’t move. Surely if she was alive, she’d open those golden eyes, a mixture of brown and hazel, and smile at me. There was only silence and my shuddering breaths. The blonde hair sprawled all over the bloodstained floor. My blood. It soaked through her golden strands, her body battered and broken. My stomach revolted, but I kept myself from retching.

The bracelet I’d given her lay on the ground by her side, ripped from her wrist and crusted with blood. I sucked in a breath and reached for it, fisting it in my palm, the silver digging into my flesh while the emptiness in my chest grew, the gaping hole expanding until I became darkness.

I couldn’t live without her.

My every inhale was raw, shredding me to pieces. I gasped and clawed at my wounded chest.

I looked up when I heard a scoff and found Sofia Volkov staring down on me with wrathful eyes, surrounded by armed men.

My lip curled back from my teeth, hatred poisoning every ounce of humanity I had left.

I steeled myself and roared, “Bring her back.”

My body collapsed on top of hers, and for the first time in years, my world went still and silent.

Then the darkness descended.

Chapter 1Kingston

Eight Years Later