When Lila Vandelyn’s father failed to pay his debt to the most feared man in the underworld, she became the payment. To save her father’s life, she agreed to a contract marriage with Sebastian Dalton — the cold, untouchable Godfather whose name alone could silence a room.

At first, Lila believed he was the devil himself — ruthless, unreadable, and capable of ending lives without a second thought. But as time passed, cracks began to appear in his armor. Beneath his cruelty, she glimpsed moments of tenderness she couldn’t explain, moments that made her heart falter… and slowly, she began to fall for the man the world called a monster.

But love, she would learn, does not always heal. Because to Sebastian, she wasn’t a woman to cherish — she was something to protect, to keep safe as he would any of his possessions. And when that truth shattered her heart, Lila walked away, believing it would break her completely.

She never expected it to break him more.
Only after she left did Sebastian realize that somewhere between the lies, the danger, and the blood on his hands, he had fallen for her too.

And when fate pulls them back together — through family feuds, buried betrayals, and a war that began long before she was born — Lila must decide if the man she once called her husband is still the villain...
or the only one who ever truly loved her

I wasn't even looking at Lila. I was staring at the blank screen of my closed laptop, running my thumb back and forth over my throbbing temple. The headache was a familiar, grinding torture, a constant low thrumming behind my eyes that no specialist were able to cure. It was just a part of my life now.


That's why I was genuinely surprised when I registered what she was saying, standing a few feet away. I stared at her. I must have been staring too long, because she started to stammer, fidgeting with her fingers.


"I... I…" she trailed off, looking at the floor. 


Chapter 27 - Chapter 27: Massage