Elena has been obsessively watching Dominic Moretti from the shadows, planning a careful trap to seduce and control the untouchable, enigmatic man who dominates the city’s underworld. She thinks she’s clever, slipping a potent aphrodisiac into his drink, imagining she’ll weaken him and finally claim the power she craves.

But Dominic is no ordinary prey. Calm, commanding, and terrifyingly perceptive, he sees through her every move before she even makes it. When he summons her directly to his table, Elena’s carefully plotted control crumbles. Dominic doesn’t just resist her seduction—he flips the dynamic, asserting his dominance and claiming the moment, the danger, and her attention.

Caught between fear and forbidden desire, Elena realizes she’s no longer the hunter. She’s at the mercy of a man who thrives on power, control, and the thrill of burning those who dare to challenge him. And yet, as terrifying as he is, part of her doesn’t want to escape… because some flames, once touched, cannot be forgotten.

Carl kept his word. He allowed Victor and the men to rest and recover for a full week. The manor, usually a hub of grim activity, settled into an unusual, almost deceptive calm. The sounds were those of convalescence: the low murmur of conversation in the kitchens, the clink of glasses raised in quiet toasts to fallen comrades, the distant thud of training bags being punched with a returning, but still measured, strength. Victor moved among them, his own body healing with a swiftness that belied the severity of his injuries, his mind already churning far ahead of the present peace.


Chapter 56 - chapter 56: Gamble in the shadows