Under The CEO's Gavel

Julianna Vance was the Princess of Onyx Harbor, a business prodigy destined to lead the Vance Empire. But in a single night of her father’s gambling madness, her crown is stripped away. To pay a debt she didn't create, Julianna is put on a private auction block, a literal collateral pawn for the city’s elite. ​Dante Moretti is the man the underworld calls The Emperor. Ten years ago, he was the boy who tended the Vance gardens, the boy Julianna cruelly rejected and cast out into the rain. Now, he’s back with billions in his pocket and a heart turned to stone. ​He didn't buy her to save her. He bought her to break her. ​Bound by a predatory contract with five cruel rules, Julianna is forced into Dante’s world, serving as his Executive Assistant by day and his captive fiancée by night. But as the lines between revenge and obsession blur, Julianna discovers that Dante’s hatred might just be a mask for a passion that burns hotter than any fire. ​In a game of power, secrets, and high-stakes seduction, who will be the first to surrender. ---------- EXCERPT: ​"Fifty million dollars," the cold, familiar voice sliced through the auction hall. ​I froze on the stage, the silk of my gown feeling like a shroud. I knew that voice. It haunted my nightmares and filled the empty spaces of my regrets. ​Dante Moretti stepped out of the shadows, his tailored suit worth more than my father’s remaining soul. He didn't look at the auctioneer. He looked at me, with the hunger of a man who had waited ten years to pull the wings off a butterfly. ​"Sold," the auctioneer gasped. ​Later, in the back of his darkened Maybach, Dante gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his obsidian eyes. "You once told the gardener's son he wasn't fit to touch the hem of your dress, Julianna." ​He leaned in, his breath hot against my ear, sending a shiver of terror and traitorous heat down my spine. "Now, I own the dress. I own the girl inside it. And I’m never letting you go."