The mafioso's obsession

The mafioso's obsession

Joice Karen · Ongoing · 111.2k Words

925
Hot
2k
Views
6
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

I have recurring dreams about a mysterious man who watches over me as I sleep. But I know he can’t be real—at least, that’s what I thought until today.

I’ve spent my life running with my mother. She always said we couldn’t stay in one place for more than six months. Whenever I asked why, she never gave me an answer.

On my 18th birthday, I decided to apply to university. I thought it was a good way to start adulthood. I should’ve listened to my mother.

The consequence of disobeying her came that same day. The reason we’ve been running all these years was to escape my sadistic, mafia father. His first words to me were: “You showed up at the perfect age to get married. Go get ready to meet your fiancé.”

I had to behave—for the sake of my mother’s safety.

My fiancé was old enough to be my grandfather and looked at me like I was his favorite dessert. But he wasn’t the one who caught my attention. His son did.

Standing beside the man I was promised to… was the man from my dreams, in the flesh—dangerous, tempting, and very real.

All I want now is to find a way to escape, but now that I know he exists, I realize I won’t get very far.

Chapter 1

The way a vein bulges on my mom’s forehead can mean only two things:

Meaning #1: Her blood pressure must be so high from stress that she could pass out any minute.

Meaning #2: She’s about to tie me up and lock me in the bathroom until I "cool down."

Honestly, both could happen, just hopefully not in that order. It would be tragic to spend my entire day locked in the bathroom because my mom decided to faint from stress.

“Get back here while I’m talking to you, you disrespectful brat! Leonor! I swear I’ll tie you to the bed if you keep turning your back on me!” she shouts, charging after me.

I shove my earbuds in and crank the music to full blast. She can scream all she wants. The conversation is over. I’ve made up my mind, I’m celebrating my 18th birthday in style. Meaning: as far away from her ridiculous restrictions as possible.

I rush out the front door before Lady Leonora can catch me. Leonor and Leonora. It has to be some cruel joke only my parents found funny when they named me. It’s ridiculous, especially when we go to any office together and someone calls out our names. First, it causes confusion. Second, everyone pretends it’s funny when it’s clearly awful.

It’s like when an ugly girl puts in effort and someone calls her “cute.” She’s still ugly, she knows it, the person who said it knows it, and everyone agrees it’s a consolation prize in the form of a compliment.

I make it exactly three steps outside before luck betrays me, no one else is in the hallway. My beloved mother manages to drag me right back in by the neck.

Ah, motherly love! Lady Leonora throws me onto the couch like a sack of guilt and control. I toss my earbuds and shoulder bag to the side and yank the scarf from around my neck, trying to catch my breath.

She knows I hate when she does this. She knows I hate being dragged around like I’m still a child. I’m almost an adult and she still treats me like I’m five.

“Sometimes I hate you,” are the first words out of my mouth after I recover.

She hands me a drink, I take it reluctantly. I down it in one go and nearly choke on the burn. She pours me another. I take this one slower.

“You’re not going out today. Period,” she says again.

“It’s my 18th birthday. I get to decide how I want to celebrate. And I sure as hell don’t want to spend it locked up here with you.” I knock back the second drink, then hand her my glass. She takes it and places it on the liquor table.

“No more whiskey. You don’t deserve it.”

We stare each other down while she sips hers like she’s at a gala. She never blinks. She can drink, stare, and even drive without blinking. The woman has taken turns relying solely on her peripheral vision. We’ve nearly died, multiple times.

I roll my eyes. She wins the stare-off. Again.

“I hate you. Did I say that already?” I mutter, pulling out my phone to cancel plans with my friends.

Someday I’ll be able to win an argument without having to flee. Someday I’ll stand up to my mom even if it means crashing the damn car. Someday I’ll grow up to be just like her. And when that day comes, maybe the world will explode from trying to handle both of us existing in it.

“Hate me safely. At home,” she says.

Then, just for good measure, she locks the front door with a password. A password. That’s just cheating.

“Why can’t I at least invite people over? Look at this apartment, Leonora! I could throw a rager in the living room and you wouldn’t hear a thing in your bedroom. What’s your problem with me?”

“If you’re not mature enough to stay home and trust your mother, who, by the way, does everything in this life to keep you safe, then you’re not ready for this conversation,” she says, setting her drink aside.

She struts over to the couch, sits next to me, and crosses her legs with perfect grace. A real lady, my mother. Always right, always in control of my life.

I text the group chat to cancel. Just my luck. I was finally going to flirt with that new guy at the beach bar. I have no right to happiness. She won’t allow it.

“I can’t accept something without knowing what I’m accepting. That’s the bare minimum for signing a contract, you taught me that,” I say. She gives me the look, the one right before a full-blown mom-lecture.

If I try to run, will she drag me back by the neck and lock me up again? Honestly, might be better than losing another argument.

I toss my phone aside and brace for impact. The faster I surrender, the faster she’ll finish, and I can escape.

“You’re not signing a contract. You’re trusting your mother, the person who loves you most in the world. You know that, Leonor,” she says, brushing my bangs aside.

“I know. But that doesn’t mean I have to accept everything you impose. Trust goes both ways, Leonora, and you don’t trust me,” I say, arms crossed, until I remember she once told me that’s a defensive posture when you feel threatened.

I uncross them and adjust my posture to match hers.

“Exactly, Leonor. Trust is mutual. And you haven’t earned mine yet. The day I feel like you’re mature enough to talk about the past, we will. Until then, we won’t,” she says, then pulls me into her lap.

I hate when she does that. I bite back the urge to argue, to scream that she’s wrong, that I am mature, that I am trustworthy. One day I’ll win, I swear.

“I hate you. I really do. So much,” I mutter. She smiles, knowing she’s won. Again. “Can I at least choose my cake flavor? Or have you already ordered it without asking me?”

“Chocolate with caramel frosting and marshmallow letters. Same as always,” she replies casually.

I want to scream that I’m not a child anymore, but damn, I really love that combo.

I slide off her lap and sit back down, frustrated.

“I’m going to bed early. I’ll spend my last moments as a seventeen-year-old sulking, locked up at home with my mother,” I say, grabbing my things and leaving the room.

She doesn’t protest. I take that as a win.

In my bedroom, I lock the door, just in case she gets the urge to lecture more. If she’s going to call me immature, I might as well act the part. I can’t even invite friends over. Absurd.

I change into pajamas: tank top, shorts, banana-and-space-themed socks. I lie down and ignore the outraged messages from my friends.

The ceiling is painted like a galaxy. I switch on my special light for extra cosmic effect. I feel like I’m floating in space, free to drift wherever I want.

I pull out my special pill from its hiding place. Even my mom doesn’t know about it, and she knows everything I try to hide. I swallow it and stare at the ceiling, waiting for the effect.

I don’t know when it hits me, but suddenly I’m floating. So light.

The closet door creaks open on its own. But I’m too out of it to care. Ghosts don’t scare me.

What steps out isn’t a ghost, it’s a man. Tall, broad-shouldered. I recognize him, even though it’s been two years since he last visited me.

I stretch out my hand, inviting him to lie beside me. He walks toward me, dangerous and silent.

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

What the Heart Wants (Book 1 of the Alpha Faros Series)

What the Heart Wants (Book 1 of the Alpha Faros Series)

3.2k Views · Ongoing · FM Publishing
Loving him will cost them everything…

Not loving him will cost more.

Derek has one goal: survive high school without drawing too much attention or pissing off his pack’s alpha.

As the youngest son of the alpha, his life is governed by lycan hierarchy, tradition, and politics. With no signs of awakening a lycan spirit, his only value is what he can do for the pack’s image. He knows he’s only ever one misstep away from exile… or worse.

Then, he finds a boy trapped in a locker on orientation day, and everything changes.

Derek shouldn’t want Nikolias. He’s off-limits. A risk Derek can’t afford.

So why does it feel like he’s the only thing worth fighting for?

Nikolias has just lost everything: his parents, his home, and any sense of peace. Sent back to the town his family left years ago to live with his prejudiced and controlling uncle, who wants nothing to do with anything—or anyone—not human, he’s trying to do everything in his power to get out quickly.

But then he meets Derek again, and all of his plans vanish in the soft, yearning flecks of gold in Derek’s green-hazel eyes. He’s drawn to Derek in a way that’s impossible to deny, and he thinks Derek feels the same way, despite the danger their relationship holds for him.

As Moonshadow's politics turn deadly, Derek and Nikolai are caught in the crossfire of a war that had started long before they were born, and their bond becomes a threat and a lifeline that neither can afford to sever.

Because the heart wants what it wants….

And it never asks permission.

TW: Graphic Violence, Suicide Ideation, Suicide Attempt, Child Abuse, Cult-Like Behavior
Where The Ice Gives Way

Where The Ice Gives Way

28.8k Views · Ongoing · Sheridan Hartin
Charlotte Pierce is used to surviving in motion. New towns, new schools, the same old house on the edge of nowhere, and the same rule that keeps her standing. Keep her twin brother, Charlie safe. Keep his hockey dream alive. Keep her own needs quiet. She works too much, sleeps too little, and saves the one thing that still feels like hers for the middle of the night, when she can lace up her worn skates and carve freedom into dangerous frozen ice. Charlotte and Charlie shifted once, years ago, and never understood what it meant. They had no pack, no guidance and no protection. Just two twins clinging to each other and pretending the voice in their heads was stress, imagination, or loneliness. Then they move to Wellington.
Blake Atlas scents his mate the moment Charlotte arrives. The bond hits hard and unmistakable, but Charlotte doesn’t recognise it. She doesn’t know why her chest keeps pulling toward the one boy she absolutely cannot afford to want. Blake is Charlie’s new hockey captain. Charlie’s chance at making something good. Charlie makes it clear; his sister is off-limits and Blake tries to do the right thing, but secrets don’t stay buried forever. Rogues prowl the edges of town. The ice cracks. The bond tightens. Then Charlotte’s rare white wolf awakens, the very thing that makes her powerful, also makes her a target.
Shanti needs Shakti. (Peace needs strength.)

Where the Ice Gives Way is a slow-burn YA paranormal romance filled with fated mates, protective alpha energy, fierce sibling loyalty, found family pack bonds, hurt/comfort, and quiet, aching tension. It’s a story about first belonging, learning to be cared for, and what happens when the girl who has always held everyone else up finally falls, and someone catches her.
A Queen Among Tides (Book 5 in the Gods' Saga)

A Queen Among Tides (Book 5 in the Gods' Saga)

4.6k Views · Ongoing · ADB_Stories
One mistake centuries ago left Lemuel cursed by the Goddess Merlos and forced to wander the earth granting the wishes of those who touch him. Lemuel was looking at an eternity of loneliness until his unexpected soulmate plucked him right out of the sea.

Shocked to find he's been bound in more ways than one to Sebastian, the future King to the Kingdom of Atlesper, Lemuel resists Sebastian's advances at every turn, believing this may be one pairing Goddess Zarseti got wrong.

Lemuel will have to face his past in hopes of starting a new future, but an overly flirtatious King is the least of his worries when he learns Sebastian's parents are convinced that a conniving usurper disguised as a curvy blonde, is the future king's true soulmate.

A Queen Among Tides is the 5th book in the Queen Among Series/The Gods' Saga. This is an interconnected series. To see how it ends, I recommend reading the full series.

Books in the series order:
A Queen Among Alphas - Book 1
Bite-Size Luna - A Queen Among Alphas Prequel (available under book 1)
A Queen Among Snakes - Book 2
A Queen Among Blood - Book 3
A Queen Among Darkness - Book 4
Whole Again - A Queen Among Alpha's spin-off (available under book 1)
A Queen Among Tides - Book 5
Valor, Virtue, and Verve - Tides Prequel Spin-off (will be available under book 5)
A Queen Among Gods - Book 6
Runaway Empress - A Queen Among Snakes Prequel (will be available under book 2)
A Queen Among Tempests - Book 7
Dark Vocation - Darkness spin-off (will be available under book 4)
A Court of Arcane Souls Anthology (side character short stories exclusive to Ream)
Royal Shadow Series (Next Gen Coming Soon)
Rise of the Banished She-Wolf

Rise of the Banished She-Wolf

417.9k Views · Completed · Lily
"White wolf! Kill that monster!"
That roar stole my eighteenth birthday and shattered my world. My first shift should have been glory—blood turned blessing into shame. By dawn they'd branded me "cursed": cast out by my pack, abandoned by family, stripped of my nature. My father didn't defend me—he sent me to a forsaken island where wolfless outcasts were forged into weapons, forced to kill each other until only one could leave.
On that island I learned the darkest edges of humanity and how to bury terror in bone. Countless times I wanted to surrender—dive into the waves and never surface—but the accusing faces that haunted my dreams pushed me back toward something colder than survival: revenge. I escaped, and for three years I hid among humans, collecting secrets, learning to move like a shadow, sharpening patience into precision—becoming a blade.
Then, under a full moon, I touched a bleeding stranger—and my wolf returned with a violence that made me whole. Who was he? Why could he wake what I'd thought dead?
One thing I know: now is the time.
I have waited three years for this. I will make everyone who destroyed me pay—and take back everything that was stolen from me.
A pack of their own

A pack of their own

2.1m Views · Completed · dragonsbain22
Being the middle Child ignored and neglected, rejected by family and injured, She receives her wolf early and realizes she is a new type of hybrid but doesn't know how to control her power, she leaves her pack with her best friend and grandmother to go to her grandfather's clan to learn what she is and how to handle her power and then with her fated mate, her best friend and her fated mate little brother and grandmother start their own pack.
The Alpha's Stripper Mate

The Alpha's Stripper Mate

53.9k Views · Completed · Havilworth
"Come here."
"What?" It was out of my mouth before I could stop it. I did not wait for him to answer me, I walked toward him.
"Dance on my lap."
My head screamed at me to turn around and run. But my whole body responded to his command.
"Yes, Alpha," I pulled my dress over my body, it dropped over my head and fell to the ground behind me. I was left in nothing but my matching bra and thong. My hands covered my chest on reflex.
"Let me see."
My hands dropped to my sides.
I lowered myself into his lap, facing him. His eyes peered into mine, and I could feel his hot breath fan my face. His dick responded to all my moves, hardening against my now-moist vagina. I swallowed hard, allowing my lips to part in a ragged breath. His hands trailed up to my waist.
"No touching."


At the tender age of eleven, JoJo Wyatt was forced to grow up far sooner than she should have. Born to a cruel father and a weak mother, she quickly realized she had to become the breadwinner for herself and her sister. Nothing else mattered to her, not even the hottest men. In fact, she despised them. After one horrific night, she swore never to have any contact with the male species again. That was, until she started working for him as his stripper.
Meanwhile, Alpha Lake Rush, thirty, was the most feared Alpha in the country. Burdened by his own share of life's struggles, he had learned only to be cruel and reckless, rejecting not one but two mates. But what happens when he discovers yet another mate, and she turns out to be his stripper?
To protect what’s mine

To protect what’s mine

538.4k Views · Completed · Winter Rowe
Amalie is more special than she ever thought possible. Why would the twenty-two-year-old think any different after she has been told she’s nothing for her whole life by her family? Adoptive mother of a three-year-old, Ama has been locked up by her family for the past seven years. But everything changes when her old friends, the Alpha twins, Markus and Calyx, take over the Moonstone pack. Finding out that the twins are her mates, she is a white wolf, and has a connection to the Moon Goddess, is just icing on the cake of her life is a huge mess. Ama just wants a normal life with her mates and protecting her pup, but life rarely gives us what we want. She is thrust into world that she no longer remembers and has forgotten her. Amalie is charged with protecting those closest to her. But she has her own past to overcome as she heals and attempts to move forward. Will she come out alive or lose herself along the way? After all, someone has to be pulling the strings, why not pull her along for the ride?
Bound By Power, Torn By Love

Bound By Power, Torn By Love

2.1k Views · Ongoing · Cynthia Adama
She is the only daughter of a notorious mafia boss, but she is forced by her father to marry a hateful bastard in a contract marriage. To avenge her father, she has a one-night stand with a charming man, but unexpectedly falls into the trap of another terrible man, who is her father's enemy and another mafia boss. His mission is to make her father disappear.
She regards him as her only salvation, but he regards her as a pawn for revenge. When two enemies dance on the sharp knife, what will be the final outcome?
The Vampire Prince's Hybrid Bride

The Vampire Prince's Hybrid Bride

51.4k Views · Ongoing · Riley Above Story
As a wolfless orphan, Joanne had been abused by Alpha Anthony ever since she was a child. She devoted her entire life to surviving in his pack—until one day, she returned home to find an injured vampire lying in her house, his whole existence luring her in. Taking the risk of bringing him in, Joanne never expected Alpha Anthony to discover it the very next day and finally seize the chance to kill her. Just as Joanne was about to be executed, the vampire she had saved arrived, with his army. And Joanne realized that he was the Prince Alexander, heir to the vampire throne…..
They'll Regret This

They'll Regret This

3.6k Views · Completed · Charlotte York
They traded me for their "real" daughter the day she showed up.

My fiancé didn't just dump me—he proposed to her that same night. My so-called family handed me bus fare and a one-way ticket to the countryside.

Perfect. Let them think they won.

They don't know who I really am. The anonymous genius surgeon who saves lives when elite hospitals give up. The legendary artist whose paintings sell for millions at auction. The undefeated shadow queen of the underground fighting circuit. And the true heiress to a fortune that makes theirs look like pocket change.

Now my ex-fiancé begs on his knees. My fake sister's jealousy is eating her alive. And that cold, arrogant CEO who once threw our engagement contract in my face? He's hunting me down like a man possessed, desperate for one more chance.

They threw me away like trash to upgrade their lives.

Joke's on them.

I was always the upgrade.
Avery and the Cursed Alpha

Avery and the Cursed Alpha

3.6k Views · Completed · Lyra Lupine
After losing her mother to cancer and drowning in crushing debt, Avery Wellesley is running out of options. Her house is about to be seized, her job is hanging by a thread, and every door she knocks on seems to slam shut in her face.

Then a mysterious billionaire offers her a deal that sounds too good to be true.

Alexander Ravenswood is powerful, wealthy, and feared throughout Tenebrous City. Behind his perfect public image lies a deadly secret. He is the Alpha of the Nocturne Pack, cursed by an ancient bloodline that is slowly driving him toward madness and death. His only hope lies in finding the legendary Aethon Orb—or the prophesied mate destined to save him.

When Alex discovers that Avery can draw symbols connected to the long-lost artifact, he offers her a contract she cannot refuse: become his fake fiancée for six months in exchange for enough money to erase her debts and save her home.

What begins as a business arrangement quickly becomes something far more dangerous.

As they search for the missing Orb, Avery is drawn into a hidden world of werewolves, ancient prophecies, and deadly pack rivalries. Powerful enemies want Alex's throne. A jealous Alpha heiress wants Avery gone. And a ruthless rival Alpha will stop at nothing to claim the Orb for himself.

But the greatest secret of all may be Avery herself.

Because the closer she gets to Alex, the more impossible truths begin to surface about her past, her strange abilities, and the destiny that has been waiting for her all along.

With a curse threatening Alex's life, enemies closing in from every side, and a forbidden bond growing stronger by the day, Avery must decide whether to walk away from the dangerous Alpha who needs her—or risk everything for a love written by fate itself.

In a city where secrets kill and destiny cannot be escaped, can a fake engagement become a love powerful enough to change the future?
Let Them Kneel

Let Them Kneel

234.8k Views · Ongoing · My Fantasy Stories
Kaelani spent her life believing she was wolfless.
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.

But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.

Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.

When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.

For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.

Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.

But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.

And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.

Especially him.

She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.

Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.