I buried my mother two years ago. The debt we took to save her didn't die with her.Two million dollars. Experimental treatments, surgery, months of life support. None of it worked. She died anyway, and my father spent the next two years drinking himself into an early grave while I worked double shifts trying to keep the collectors from breaking down our door.Now my father's dead too. Heart attack, three weeks ago. Quick for him. Not so quick for me, because three hours after his funeral, Julian Vesper showed up at my apartment.The Don. The one everyone in this city whispers about but nobody dares cross. He owns half the police force, has connections in the FBI, and runs a billion-dollar empire that stretches across three continents. People who owe him money disappear. People who betray him suffer first.My father borrowed from him. Two million dollars plus two years of compounding interest. The second my father's heart stopped, that debt became mine.Julian looked at me standing there in my funeral dress with mascara smeared down my face and made me an offer. Work for him. Personal assistant. At his side every hour of every day, available for whatever he needs. Five years and the debt clears. My seventeen-year-old brother stays safe, stays in school, stays out of foster care.I signed because I had no other option.What I didn't expect was Julian touching me like I already belonged to him. His hand sliding up my thigh during board meetings. His breath hot against my neck when he leaned too close. His arm locked around my waist whenever another man glanced my direction. I didn't expect to want it. I didn't expect to crave it.And I definitely didn't expect my ex-boyfriend to crawl back into my life with dangerous connections and a grudge. Or the rival Don who sees me as the perfect weapon to destroy the man I'm falling for.Julian Vesper doesn't share. When someone tries to take what he considers his, he doesn't negotiate, he destroys.