He Wants Me Dead Or Alive
"Are you going to treat me like the enemy?" Raffaele asked, hovering over me like a predator.
"You are the enemy," I sneered.
He smiled. "Careful. You're hurting my feelings."
"I hope I can hurt much more than that."
His eyes darkened. "You forget-I'm the one who can break you."
I vowed never to give my heart to a man. Never let one bend me. Never let one own me.
Then a single night changed everything.
When my best friend became a target, I took her place and caught the attention of the most dangerous man in the city. Raffaele, My friend's older brother, wasn't supposed to see me. We were never meant to meet but the moment his eyes locked on mine, I became his new obsession.
I don't bend and he doesn't let go.
Suddenly caught up in a world of blood and power, resisting a man like Raffaele might cost me everything...heart, body, and soul.
He wants me, dead or alive.
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Chapter 2
Rosa's POV
I knew the second we pulled up to the penthouse that my stupid little Kylie act was about to crash and burn spectacularly.
I tried everything. I crossed my arms, planted my feet, told Raffaele I wasn't stepping foot inside that glass tower because "I have my own place, thanks very much." He just raised one perfect eyebrow, opened the passenger door like a gentleman assassin, and said, "Get out of the car, Kylie, or I carry you. I know you live here."
I got out. Fast.
The elevator ride up felt like a funeral procession. Him leaning against the mirrored wall, arms folded, watching me like I was a puzzle he already solved. Me staring at the floor numbers like they owed me money.
The doors slid open.
And there she was.
"ROSA!!" Kylie shrieked, bare feet slapping marble as she flew toward me, tears streaming, arms wide. "You're alive! Oh my God, you're alive!"
I let out the fakest, squeakiest "Yaaay" in history, mostly because Raffaele's stare was burning holes through the back of my skull.
Kylie crashed into me, hugging so tight I smelled her vanilla shampoo and felt her shaking. Behind her, Luca appeared like the devil in cashmere, already shrugging off his jacket to drape a shawl around her shoulders like she was made of frost.
"Baby, you'll catch a cold," he murmured, tucking her against his side, eyes soft only for her.
Raffaele's gaze never left me.
"What the fuck is going on?" he asked, voice low, dangerous, the kind of quiet that makes your stomach drop.
Luca frowned. Kylie blinked up at him, confused.
Raffaele jerked his chin toward me. "She told me her name is Kylie Rivers. Your fiancée."
Kylie's mouth fell open. "Rosa?"
I winced.
Luca's head snapped toward me. "Rosa?"
Raffaele's eyes narrowed to slits. "So she's not Kylie."
Kylie burst into fresh tears. "No! She's my best friend! She... she saved me!"
Raffaele looked at me like I'd personally insulted his entire bloodline. "Explain; Now."
Kylie was already talking, words tumbling over each other. "Okay okay, rewind, rewind twenty-four hours, please."
I sighed. Might as well get it over with.
So here's the real introduction, the one I should have given him in that filthy warehouse instead of playing dress-up with someone else's life.
My name is Rosa Stewart. I'm twenty-one, national bronze Medalist in sparring, second-year at the police university, training to be a detective because I want to put people like Luca Navarro behind bars. Kylie is...was, until Luca proposed, my roommate, my best friend since freshman orientation when she decided I looked lonely and glued herself to my side like glitter. She studies forensic medicine, which means she's brilliant, sweet, and completely hopeless in a crisis.
And then there's the package deal: Luca.
I hated him on sight. Tall, dark, too handsome for his own good, too sure of himself, studying criminal law at a police university while secretly running half the city's underworld.
How? I still don't know. How does a mafia prince walk around quoting case law in lecture halls without anyone noticing? Magic, probably. Or really good bribes.
He was obsessive about Kylie from day one. No guy got within three feet of her. He picked her clothes, her schedule, her coffee order. At first I thought it was creepy as hell. Then I saw how she lit up around him, how she smiled softer, laughed louder.
She was happy. Disgustingly, grossly happy.
So I tolerated him. Barely.
Last night changed everything.
Luca texted Kylie he'd be late. We were studying in their ridiculous penthouse-crime scene photos spread across the marble island, cold pizza, me in sweats, Kylie in one of Luca's shirts that swallowed her.
Then the lights flickered.
Glass shattered downstairs.
Heavy boots sound followed by men shouting in Italian.
Kylie froze. "Rosa..."
I grabbed her wrist. "Hide in the Bathroom. Now."
She was shaking so bad she could barely move. I shoved her into the walk-in closet instead, pushed her behind the rows of designer dresses, whispered, "Stay quiet. Do not come out."
The door burst open.
Three men, all masked and holding guns.
"Where is she?" one barked. "The fiancée."
I stepped out before they could search. Heart hammering, and my hands up.
"I'm here," I said, voice steady even though my knees were jelly. "Please don't hurt me."
They didn't question it. Just grabbed me and sealed my lip with duct tape. Black bag over my head as they dragged me out.
I heard Kylie sobbing behind the closet door the whole time. I almost yelled SHUT UP!
And that's it. That's how I ended up in a warehouse getting cursed at in Italian, waiting to die for a girl who's too soft to survive this world, and how I ended up lying to the wrong Navarro brother.
Back to now.
Kylie finishes her tear-soaked version. Everyone's staring at me. Then Luca takes Kylie inside whispering something about getting her coffee.
Raffaele tilts his head. "So. You're not Kylie."
I shrug, trying for casual. "I lied. Got caught. Big deal. Thanks for the rescue, by the way. You didn't die on me. We're even. Hope we never see each other again."
I turn to leave.
He moves faster than I expect.
One step and he's in my space, crowding me against the hallway wall, one hand braced above my head, the other hovering near my hip. Not touching. Just close enough that I feel the heat rolling off him, smell gunpowder and expensive cologne and something darker underneath.
My breath snags.
"That," he says, voice velvet and steel, "is the opposite of what I want, Rosa."
I swallow. "Yeah? And what do you want?"
His eyes drop to my mouth, then climb back up. Slowly, he wanted me to see the way he looked at me.
"I'm not sorry to say..." He leans in until his lips brush the shell of my ear. "I don't think I can let you go."
My heart stops.
The penthouse suddenly feels too small, too quiet, too full of him.
And I realize, with a sick little thrill, that I might not want him to.
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8.1
Racheal Angelo never wanted a new life, a new house, or a new family. She just wanted the life she was used to, but when her mother marries the cold, manipulative, powerful attorney Simon Adams to escape financial ruin, Racheal is forced into a mansion she wants no part of.
What she didn't expect was the nightmare waiting at the top of the stairs- Thane Adams, her new stepbrother. The same sinfully irresistible stranger she had a reckless, heartbreak-fueled hookup with the night she caught her boyfriend, Raymond cheating.
What begins as tension and denial soon becomes a desire neither of them can control. But in a house full of secrets, lies, hidden agendas, and a father who will ruin anyone who threatens his legacy and reputation... falling for each other isn't just forbidden. It's dangerous. A love born in the dark may cost them everything, even their family, their future, and each other.
7.6
Dumped by her fiancé just days before their wedding, only to watch him marry someone else-what would you do? Cry yourself to sleep, or dress to kill for revenge?
That was Elaina's reality. She's no Cinderella, yet she lost a shoe while recklessly crashing her ex's wedding. Her revenge plan went up in flames, but fate had other ideas, throwing her into the path of Alister-a man who is handsome, charismatic, and dangerous... and ironically, the person closest to her ex-fiancé.
Amidst heartbreak and vendettas, Alister paints her world in new colors, turning Elaina into a modern-day Cinderella. But will this story end in "happily ever after," or is Alister merely leading her into a much more dangerous game?
9.2
Clara was drowning in student debt and barely making rent when she downloaded a fantasy mobile game to escape reality.
Inside the game, an exiled prince named Alex was freezing to death. Pitying him, she spent her last few dollars on microtransactions to fix his shelter and cure his poison.
But the game was far too real.
Every time she paid, the prince reacted. When she complained aloud about going broke, the in-game army suddenly halted, as if the prince had heard her voice.
Then, the terrifying real-world consequences hit.
Clara woke up to find her water glass and a box of Kleenex had vanished from her locked bedroom overnight.
She frantically searched the tiny apartment, her heart pounding in her chest.
She thought she was losing her mind. Had she thrown them out in her sleep? Was there a stalker hiding in her home?
How could physical objects just disappear into thin air behind a deadbolted door?
Until she looked at her nightstand.
Sitting exactly where her missing items used to be was a glowing, weightless crystal cup that defied all logic.
And on her laptop screen, the exiled prince was carefully holding her Kleenex box, offering a mountain of real gold on an altar.
She hadn't just downloaded a mobile game; she had opened a cross-dimensional trade route with a desperate future king.
9.5
He was born from the void between stars - a being of immense power, forged from cosmic origins.
For thousands of years, he walked among humanity, protecting them and keeping his true strength hidden. After losing the only family he had, grief led him to seek his own end... only to wake up in a world entirely unlike his own.
Here, cultivation is the main path to power. Those who master spirit qi gain superhuman strength, speed, and abilities that place them far above ordinary people. Four great sects rule the land, competing for resources, secrets, and dominance over each other.
Icaros joined the Li Sect, where he found companions he came to trust and care for: the capable and easygoing Li Han, the sharp and composed Su Yan, and the spirited Nelly. For a time, he felt he had found a place to belong, even as he kept his true nature hidden and wondered whether he could ever learn to cultivate like those around him.
Everything changed when their voyage was suddenly attacked. A powerful figure floating in the sky cut their ship apart with sharp, devastating energy strikes, leaving only destruction in his wake. Believing his friends had been lost in the disaster, Icaros chose to stop holding back any longer.
> "I am done hiding!"
He unleashed his full power: golden light blazed from his eyes, he flew at incredible speed, and he broke through every barrier and enemy in his way. On the shores ahead, he tore through hordes of powerful jade monsters, destroying them completely before flying deep into the interior of the island.
Meanwhile, survivors washed up scattered and alone. One young cultivator found himself on the shores of Jade Island - a place most cultivators avoid, as it holds no treasures or useful materials, only danger and endless deposits of ordinary jade. Yet despite the risks, ordinary people have built settlements here, finding safety from the conflicts and power struggles of the outside world.
This island works by different rules. Spirit qi is scarce and unstable, making cultivation far less effective than elsewhere. Instead, the people here rely on advanced technology - weapons and explosives that can injure or even defeat those with great physical strength. Here, skill and preparation can be just as powerful as raw strength, and even the strongest cultivators must move with caution.
Now, Icaros has vanished deep into the island. His companions are lost somewhere across this dangerous land. And the mysterious swordsman who destroyed their ship has already arrived here, searching for an ancient map said to lead to the legacy of a being from another world.
Will they find each other again? And can anyone survive in a place where the usual rules of power no longer hold true?
✅ Chapters 1–19: FREE
🔒 Chapters 20 onwards: PAID
(Continue the journey of power, friendship, and discovery!)
8.9
The mangled car teetered on the cliff's edge, my leg crushed, gasoline fumes thick in the air. My husband, Holden, stood safe on the highway, directing the rescue – but not for me. He was saving her, the woman in the passenger seat, leaving me and our unborn child to the ocean below.
I woke trapped in the crushed Maybach, leg pinned. The cliff loomed; the driver's seat was empty.
Holden, safe outside, directed paramedics past me to Giana, his "most valuable asset," ordering her rescue first.
I watched him comfort Giana, oblivious, as the car slid. My baby barely viable. Holden offered a black card for silence; Giana gloated.
Ten years of devotion, a cruel lie. Rage fueled me: how could he abandon his wife and child?
I swore a venomous oath: never again an accessory. I flicked his card away, shielded my pregnancy, and promised my baby escape.
7.9
The rain was a solid sheet of gray as the black SUV rammed into my car, sending me spiraling over the guardrail. As the glass shattered and the world turned upside down, a searing pain ripped through my chest before everything went cold and dark.
I didn’t stay in the darkness. My spirit hovered ten feet in the air, watching the steam hiss from my mangled sedan.
I followed the magnetic pull of my soul back to my family estate, expecting to find them devastated. Instead, I found my stepmother, Florene, and my sister, Kassidy, pouring vintage champagne and laughing in the drawing room.
"To the end of the nuisance," Florene said, her eyes gleaming with greed. "The trust fund unlocks at midnight. We're finally rich."
The betrayal cut deeper than the metal that killed me, but the real shock came at my funeral. Hiram Tyson—the cold, masked husband I’d spent three years fearing—collapsed over my closed casket. He unbuckled his silver mask, revealing a face ruined by scars, and sobbed a name I hadn't heard since childhood.
"I'm sorry, Angel. I thought keeping you at arm's length would keep the darkness away."
He wasn't the monster I thought he was. He was the boy I had saved at the orphanage years ago, and he had been protecting me in silence while my own family plotted my murder.
I reached out to touch him, but the world exploded into a blinding white light.
When I opened my eyes, I wasn't in a casket. I was back in our bedroom, feeling the heavy weight of Hiram’s arm across my waist. The calendar on the nightstand read September 14, 2023—exactly one year before the crash.
I looked at the silver mask resting on the table and felt a cold, hard determination settle in my chest. This time, I wasn't going to be the victim. I was going to be the villain in their story and burn their world to the ground.