Chapter 1 SAMANTHA

SAMANTHA

A sharp sting lanced through my wrists as I struggled against the coarse rope binding me to a chair. The faint scent of damp wood and mildew filled the air, my head throbbed, disoriented by the dim light of the single bulb that I see swinging above me.

My breaths came short and fast as the situation became clear. I wasn't in her small, cramped apartment. ' I've been kidnapped'. ' By who?'. Questions rang through my head, the thought of the worse happening to me causing the throbbing in my head to deepen. Looking around the room, it reeked of neglect, the cracked walls and boarded windows letting in no light from outside.

"Good, you're awake," a familiar voice drawled, making my heart drop into my stomach.

I froze. Slowly, I turned my head, and there he was-Liam. My ex-fiancé. The man i'd once trusted with my heart, my future, and every hard-earned penny I had saved.

"Liam?," I whispered, my voice raw. "What... what the hell is going on?" " Why am I here?".

He leaned against the doorway, his tailored shirt rumpled, the buttons at his collar undone as if he'd been too lazy-or too desperate-to finish dressing himself properly. His once-boyish charm was gone, replaced by something sharp and dangerous.

"Relax, Sammy," he said with a smirk that made my stomach churn. "It's nothing personal. Just business."

"Business?" The word left my lips like a curse. I tugged at the ropes, my nails scraping the chair's edges as panic bubbled in my chest. "You tie me up in some godforsaken room and think you can call it business?" I said , my voice filled with venom.

He chuckled, low and humourless. "Oh, Sammy. You're so naïve. That's always been your problem."

"Sammy". I once loved when he called me Sammy, erupting butterflies in my stomach but now it sounds like daggers attacking me as the name left his filthy mouth.

My jaw clenched. "Naïve enough to trust you, apparently. Let me guess, t the money you stole from me wasn't enough?"

Liam pushed off the doorframe and stepped closer, his smirk fading into something colder. "You're not in a position to lecture me, sweetheart. You were just an easy target."

His words hit me like a slap. I'd loved this man, shared my dreams with him, even started building a life around him. And in return, he'd stolen everything-my money, my trust, and now, apparently, my freedom.

"You cheated on me," she spat, the memory of finding him with another woman flashing in my mind. "And then you emptied my accounts. And now this? What do you want, Liam?"

He crouched down so we were at eye level, his smirk curling back into place. "You think this is about what I want? No, Sammy, this is about what you're worth."

My blood turned cold. "What... what are you talking about?"

"I'm in debt," he said simply, as if that explained everything. "And not the kind of debt you can weasel out of with a payment plan. These people-" he gestured vaguely, as if referring to a distant storm-"they don't take excuses. So I needed collateral. And you, my darling, are quite the valuable asset."

My breath hitched. I stared at him, disbelief and fury battling for dominance in my chest. "You're selling me?"

He stood, brushing dust off his pants as if this were a casual conversation. "Selling is such a crude word. Think of it as... a transaction."

"You monster," I hissed, venom in every syllable.

"And you're nothing," he shot back. "Face it, Sammy. You have no one. No money, no connections, no way out. I'm doing you a favour, really. At least this way, you'll be useful to someone."

My mind raced, trying to process his words, trying to find an escape. But the ropes bit into my skin with every movement, and the locked door behind him promised no easy way out.

"Who are you selling me to?" I demanded, my voice shaking with fear and rage

His smirk grew darker. "That's not your concern. But let's just say they're not the kind of people you want to keep waiting. And if I were you, I'd start practicing obedience. They don't take kindly to defiance."

My throat tightened as he turned and left the room, the sound of the lock clicking behind him echoing in my ears.

Alone in the suffocating silence, I bit down on her lip, forcing myself not to cry at how pathetic my life turned out. This wasn't the end. It couldn't be. There had to be a way out. I would fight, claw, and scream if it's the last thing I do.

Because if Liam thought he could break her, he was dead wrong.

Chapter 2 RONAN

RONAN

" Sergio, you know the deal. I've given you too much time yet you failed to keep your end of the bargain". I said, my voice deadly calm.

"D..Don please, I promise you, I'll get your money just give more time".

"Time?. I have given you enough time already. And now it's my time". I sneered removing my gun from the holster. I shoot the motherfucker in the centre of his head.

" Son of a bitch". I muttered.

" Clean this shit up". I ordered. I heard some men come in and drag the body out. Turning to face the large window in my office, the city beneath me as I watch it from above. Just how I like it. I own this city. I may be Russian by birth and control the Russian Mafia but in the business world, I am the king and New York city is mine.

In the business world, I am known as the king of business, cunning, manipulative, ruthless when it come to getting any business I desire, but what people don't know is, the fact that I run the underworld, the Don of the dons. Head of the Russian Mafia, " THE DEVIL". I am the head of five mafia heads, known as the Cosa Nostra. The Cosa Nostra consist of five mafia families bound by a treaty. The Russian Mafia, The Italian Mafia, The Chicago Mafia, The German Mafia, The Spanish Mafia and the Indian Mafia. Together we make the Cosa Nostra with me as the head.

Making my way to the mini bar located at the corner of my office, I add more whiskey in my glass, sitting on the bar stool, my mind drifts to a certain Brunette who has been occupying my mind lately for the past five months. Samantha Blake. She stirred up emotions that I didn't know I have in all my years of living.

The night I found her crying by the sidewalk, I wanted her since. The need to claim her keeps increasing by the day. And since then I've got my eyes on her, my men watching her from, keeping her safe from a distance. When I found out what her fiancé had done to her. I wanted to kill him but since the son of a bitch was out of her life, I decided to let him be but not for long. if he comes a millimetre radius close to her, he's gonna be six feet under.

The sound of the door opening brings me out of my reverie. I glance up aty best friend and second in command and also my only surviving cousin's fiancé Viktor Morozov.

" Boss". he said. " What happened now"?. I asked. Viktor is only like this when the situation is serious. Trust the motherfucker to joke about everything, when I say everything, I mean Every single thing. Sometimes I wonder how Nadia deals with him.

" There's bad news". he said slowly.

" Isn't there always a bad news?". I smirked. We run the Mafia of course there's always bad news of some sort.

" what is it Viktor?". I urged. My boss mode in place.

"Samantha has been kidnapped". he answered.

I stiffened. My breathing heavy, my blood boiling, the need to spill blood, my vision darkened, the beast in me wanting to suffice. The words keep ringing in my head. ' Samantha has been kidnapped. I gripped the glass in my hand and the sound of cracking heard as the glass shattered on the rug.

" WHO DID IT" I asked, my voice low and predatory.

SILENCE. I lunged at Viktor, holding him by the collar. " I'm gonna ask you again, "Who did it?" my voice was low, lethal, each word a promise of pain. "Who dared to touch what's mine?"

" Calm down Ron". he said. I released him from my hold, picking the bottle of the expensive whiskey and throwing it on the wall.

Viktor walks to the bar, pouring himself a glass of vodka with steady hands. "We don't have all the details yet," Viktor said cautiously, his tone calm but firm. "But we'll find her, Ron. You need to keep your head clear."

My eyes snapped to Viktor, and for a moment, even the he being a seasoned enforcer flinched under the weight of my glare. "Clear?" I growled, my voice a dangerous whisper. "Five months, Viktor. I've watched her. Protected her. Kept her safe from a distance. And now, some idiot thinks he can take her?"

" Who was supposed to be on the watch today"?.

I asked because the fucker will be dealt with personally by me. " Manuel was on the watch, apparently, he decided to take a bathroom break and when he came back she wasn't at the spot she was and her stuffs were scattered on the floor. Now because you take any action on him, it's not he's fault. The man is out there scared shitless about what you would do to him".

" He should be".

Viktor sighed and took a sip of his drink, knowing better than to argue. On occasions when I was like this, reasoning with me was like trying to calm a hurricane. But Viktor also knew that if I lost control, heads wouldn't just roll-they'd be annihilated. And I'm honestly trying not to loose it.

"She's alive," Viktor said firmly. "We have no reports of her being harmed. Let's focus on that for now." " I already called Anton, he should be here any moment from now". he said.

I clenched his jaw, my fists tightening at my sides. The image of Samantha crying on the sidewalk five months ago burned in my mind. I had stumbled upon her by chance-. The sight of her, broken and vulnerable, had stirred something deep inside me.

At first, I dismissed it. I was a man with no room for weakness, no space for attachments. But Samantha Blake was different. Her strength, even in her despair, had captivated me. I had ordered one of my men to keep an eye on her, to make sure no harm came her way.

And now she'd been taken.

"FUCK!!!!!!". I shouted, my hands running through my hair.

" Where the fuck is Anton?." I barked, his voice cutting through the tension like a blade.

Just as the words left my mouth, Anton walks into my office carrying a laptop and looking slightly nervous. Anton Vasiliev was is my best hacker, a genius with computers and surveillance systems. If anyone could find Samantha, it was him.

"You called, boss?" Anton asked, setting the laptop on the desk.

"Track her," I commanded, my tone leaving no room for argument.

Anton nodded and got to work, his fingers flying across the keyboard. "I'll need a bit of time to bypass the local security feeds and find a trace. Do we know anything about her captors?"

Viktor shrugged. "Not yet. But it's likely tied to her ex-fiancé. The man's a snake, and we've been monitoring his dealings, and trust me it's been shady ".

My expression darkened further. "Liam." I spat the name with venom. "I should've ended him months ago." I growled, pacing back and forth, I was itching to kill.

"And risk scaring her off?" Viktor countered. "You wanted to play the long game, Ron. To wait until she came to you willingly."

"That was before she was taken," I snarled. "Now, I'll burn the city to the ground if that's what it takes to get her back."

Anton interrupted, his voice tight with concentration adjusting his thick rimmed glasses. "Got something." He turned the laptop to face us. "She's being held in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city. There's minimal activity in the area, but I'm picking up chatter on some encrypted channels. Whoever has her, they're planning to sell her."

A muscle in my jaw twitched. "To who?"

Anton shook his head. "I'm working on decrypting the data. But if they're using this kind of network, it's serious. High stakes. High bidders."

I didn't wait for more details. I straightened, my fury sharpening into cold determination. "Prepare the team," I ordered Viktor. "We move now."

Viktor hesitated for a fraction of a second before nodding. "Understood."

As Viktor left to assemble their best men, I turned to Anton. "Keep digging. I want to know every detail-who they are, how many, and who's behind this."

Anton nodded quickly, his fingers returning to the keyboard.

Alone in the room for a brief moment, I stared out the window, my mind racing. I can't quite place what she meant to me. She has no idea how deeply she'd gotten under my skin. But one thing's clear, SHE'S MINE AND NOBODY TOUCHES WHAT'S MINE.

And whoever dared to take her would learn why Ronan Volkov was the most feared name in the underworld.