Most people fight fate. I made peace with mine a long time ago. After years of caring for a dying mother, I know exactly how my story ends, and it’s not with a white picket fence. So I cash in what little future I have left, buy a one‑way ticket to New York, and promise myself one thing: I’m not coming back.

I should have died the night I walked into a mob war. Instead, a stranger threw his body over mine and changed everything.

Dante Luciano is lethal, controlled, and terrifying to everyone but the little boy who calls him Dad. To Leo, he’s just “Papa.” To the rest of the city, he’s a man you don’t cross. To me? He’s the first person who’s ever made me feel safe… and seen. Slipping into his world, and his bed, is dangerously easy.

But Dante hates liars. And my entire life is one long, ticking secret. So he's going to hate me.