Chapter 1 Claimed

Stacy POV

The pounding on the front door rattled the entire apartment.

Not a knock. A bang.

Loud. Merciless. The kind of sound that made your stomach twist and your heart slam against your ribs.

"Don't open it." My brother's voice cracked from across the living room. He was pacing, his hands trembling as he raked them through his messy hair. Sweat rolled down his temples, though the night air of Brooklyn was ice-cold.

I pressed myself against the wall, the coarse paint scratching my back. My chest heaved, trying to force air into my lungs that felt like they had been replaced by stone. "Who is it?" I whispered, but he didn't answer.

The pounding came again, harder. Wood splintered, the noise echoing in the narrow apartment like the sound of doom itself.

"Daniel," I hissed, "tell me who it is."

He stopped pacing, frozen mid-step. His eyes were wide and haunted, reflecting every flicker of light from the broken streetlamp outside the window. His lips trembled before he finally whispered, "It's them."

Them.

The word alone made my knees weaken.

Everyone in the city knew who them meant. The mafia. Whispers of their name alone could silence a room.

They weren't just men. They were power-unpredictable, untouchable, unstoppable.

And now... they were here.

"Daniel, what did you do?" My voice cracked, the sound of it harsh and foreign to my own ears. But the door exploded before he could answer.

The lock clanged to the floor, a metallic punctuation mark that echoed through the apartment. Three men stormed inside like they owned the place, and for a moment, the air itself seemed to shiver under their presence.

Big. Suited. Tattoos crawling up their necks, curling over their hands, vanishing into the collars of their shirts. Their faces were carved from stone, eyes colder than ice, and in those eyes, I felt the weight of every horror ever whispered about in dark alleys.

The tallest one, a scar slicing across his cheek like it had been drawn in fire, smiled without humor. "Daniel." His voice was smooth, almost casual, but it carried the kind of danger that made you want to collapse into the floor. "You've been avoiding us."

My brother stumbled back, hands raised. "P-please, I just need more time-"

"Time?" The man chuckled, low and sharp. The sound slid along the walls like a knife. His gaze shifted. Landed on me.

My stomach dropped.

"She doesn't know, does she?" His smirk widened. "You didn't tell your pretty sister what you cost us?"

"Leave her out of this!" Daniel snapped, his voice cracking.

But the man only tilted his head. "Oh, she's already in it. When you owe, it's never just money. It's everything. Blood. Pride. Family."

I felt my chest squeeze until I couldn't breathe. My legs trembled under me, threatening to give out. Every instinct screamed to run, but the room felt smaller, suffocating.

Then another voice.

Deeper. Sharper. Like steel cutting through silence.

"Enough."

The room froze. Even the man with the scar straightened. The others stepped aside, and that's when I saw him.

He walked in like a storm trapped in a tailored black suit. Tall, broad, his dark hair slicked back, eyes colder than winter itself. His presence swallowed the air, demanding it, bending it. When his gaze found me, I forgot how to breathe.

Adrian Moretti.

The name whispered in every bar, every alley, every desperate corner of this city. The Don of the Moretti crime family. The man whose reputation alone could bankrupt a man with fear.

Daniel dropped to his knees. "Boss, please, just give me-"

"Shut up." Adrian's voice cracked like a whip. Deep. Commanding. Ruthless.

Daniel silenced instantly. Trembling.

Adrian's eyes never left me. They slid over me, slow, deliberate. Like he was measuring my worth, weighing it against the sins of someone else, a scale only he could see.

"You've made promises you can't keep," he said flatly. "That makes you worthless."

Daniel's mouth opened, but no sound came out.

Adrian ignored him. He stepped closer to me instead, each step echoing like thunder in the small apartment.

"You live with him?" His question cut through me like a blade.

"H-He's my brother," I whispered.

Adrian's lips curved. Not a smile. Something darker. Something claiming. "Interesting."

One of his men chuckled low, almost like a hiss. "Boss, if he can't deliver, maybe she can."

My veins turned to ice.

Adrian's jaw tightened. His gaze sharpened on me. Calculating. Cruel. And then he said it. Slowly. Final.

"Fine. His debt... for her."

My knees buckled. "W-What?!"

Daniel lunged forward. "No! Not her! Please, Boss, take me instead-I'll fix it, I swear-"

Adrian raised one hand. Daniel silenced, sobbing.

His cold gaze pinned me in place. "Your time is over. But she..." His eyes dragged down my frame. Claiming. "She will do."

Tears burned my eyes. My chest heaved. "I'm not part of this-"

Adrian smirked, cruel and sharp. "You are now."

Two of his men moved instantly, gripping my arms like steel. I struggled, but it was useless. Every movement I made only seemed to amuse them.

Daniel screamed, his face twisted in horror. He reached for me, but another hand struck his shoulder, holding him back like a child. Adrian didn't look at him again. His gaze stayed locked on me, merciless.

"You belong to me now." His voice was low, final. "And you will learn what that means."

They dragged me through the apartment. My legs barely kept me upright, my mind screaming, heart hammering like a drum of war. Every step echoed Adrian's dominance. Every shadow in the hallway seemed to bow to him.

The night outside was still and cold, but the city felt different-smaller, more dangerous. The streets whispered his name in every corner. Brooklyn was alive with the unseen eyes of men who would obey him without question.

I stumbled, one of his men gripping my arm tighter. I wanted to fight, to scream, to vanish into the night, but Adrian's shadow fell over me, and it was impossible.

"You will learn to be useful," Adrian said, his voice calm now, almost a lull that made me shiver. "Everyone has a purpose. Some more... interesting than others."

My brother's sobs trailed behind me. I caught one last glance at his broken face, pleading silently. But I was already gone from the apartment, already walking into a world I had no idea existed.

The last thing I heard before the alley swallowed us was Adrian's command, cold as death.

"Take her."