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 5
Rosa's POV
"You slapped Raffaele?" Kylie's voice cracked, eyes so wide I could see the whites all around. She was perched on the edge of my couch like she might bolt any second, hands twisting in her lap. "Rosa... you actually slapped him?"
I dropped onto the armchair across from her, elbows on my knees, face buried in my palms for a second before I looked up. "Kylie, I might die tonight, but I swear I won't go down without a fight."
She stared at me like I'd grown a second head. News of the gunfire at the gym had spread like wildfire. It read that there were shots fired, no suspect caught, everyone evacuated...the usual chaos.
Of course the cops were calling it a random drive-by. Of course Raffaele walked away clean.
And of course I'd told Kylie the truth the second she burst through my door twenty minutes ago, wild-eyed and clutching her phone like a lifeline.
Now the weight of it was crashing down on me all at once.
I was fucked.
Completely, irreversibly fucked.
"Is he that scary?" I asked, voice quieter than I meant it to be. "Like... does he even have a soul?"
Kylie shrugged, but the movement was too quick, too nervous. I raised a brow.
"You know something, don't you?"
She shook her head fast. Too fast.
Shee probably asked Luca about him and there was no way in hell that Luca who worshipped her very presence wouldn't have told her.
"Kylie, a three-year-old can lie better than you can."
Her shoulders slumped. She looked at her hands, then at me, then back at her hands. "I promised Luca I wouldn't say anything."
"I need to know, Kylie. What if he's really some kind of psychopath?"
She swallowed hard, eyes glistening. "He is, Rosa."
My stomach dropped.
"He lost someone," she whispered. "Someone he loved more than anything. And after that... he turned into this... deranged monster. Luca says he's not the same person he used to be. Not even close."
I opened my mouth to ask who, what happened, when, anything but my phone rang.
The screen lit up with an unknown number.
I stared at it like it might bite me.
Kylie leaned forward.
I answered.
"Hi, Rosa."
That voice. Low and smooth with a deadly calmness.
My whole body went cold. "How the hell did you get my number?"
"Doesn't matter. You might want to stay on the line for a second."
Before I could snap back, a small, bright voice piped up in the background.
"Rosa? Is this scary-looking uncle really your boyfriend?"
My heart fell through the floor.
Stevie.
My little brother.
Rage exploded in my chest so fast it burned. "Raffaele, you dare not fucking touch my family."
"You didn't answer my question when I asked about them," he said, tone almost conversational, "so I came to see for myself."
My hand was shaking so hard the phone rattled against my ear.
"You called me sick? You better hurry, sweetheart. There's no telling what a sick person can do."
I was already moving, snatching my keys, shoving my feet into sneakers. Kylie jumped up behind me. "Rosa, wait! I'll call Luca, he'll talk to him-"
"No time." I yanked the door open. "I'm not waiting for one Navarro brother when they are both almost equally deranged."
I took the stairs two at a time, hailed the first taxi I saw, and slid into the back seat, slamming the door so hard the driver flinched.
"Elmwood Drive. Fast. Please."
The whole ride I prayed to God, to whoever was listening, to the universe, to anyone who might give a damn that he wouldn't hurt them. That this was just another twisted game.
That I hadn't just handed him the keys to my entire world by walking away in that gym.
When the taxi screeched to a stop outside our small, weathered house, I threw money at the driver and ran up the cracked walkway.
Through the front window I saw them.
Raffaele Navarro.
Sitting at my mom's tiny kitchen table.
Eating dinner.
With my mother and my eight-year-old brother.
Stevie was laughing at something he'd said, fork halfway to his mouth. Mom was smiling, the soft one she saved for people she trusted.
I burst through the door so hard it banged against the wall.
"Stay away from my family."
Three heads turned.
Raffaele's smile was slow, lazy, like he'd been expecting me.
Mom blinked. "Rosa? Honey, what's wrong? Why are you acting like this toward your boyfriend?"
"He's not my boyfriend!" I yelled, voice cracking. I stepped in front of them both, arms out like I could shield them with my body. "Mom, I told you not to let strangers in the house!"
Raffaele stood up, slow and deliberate, all six-foot-three of him unfolding like a shadow coming to life. He looked at my mom, polite, almost gentle. "You should listen to your daughter, ma'am. There are a lot of scary people in the world."
Mom smiled, confused but warm. "But you wouldn't hurt us, right? You're Rosa's boyfriend."
Raffaele returned the smile small, dangerous, beautiful. "That depends on what your daughter does from now on."
He turned those dark eyes on me.
"Thanks for the slap, Rosa. It really made me step up my game."
My pulse roared in my ears.
"Now," he continued, stepping closer, voice dropping so only I could hear, "can we start over? Or should I visit the story of how your father passed?"
My heart stopped.
He knew.
He fucking knew.
The room tilted. Mom was saying something, Stevie tugging at my sleeve asking why I looked so mad, but all I could hear was the blood rushing through my head.
He knew about Dad.
It meant he knew everything about my family and the secret I was fighting so hard time bury for good.
And he was sitting here, eating Mom's spaghetti, charming my little brother, holding the one secret that could shatter what was left of my family.
I stepped right into his space, close enough that I could smell the faint trace of gunpowder still clinging to him, close enough that I could see the faint red mark my hand had left on his cheek earlier.
"You touch them," I whispered, voice shaking with fury and fear and something darker, "and I will end you. I don't care who you are. I don't care what you are, I will bury you."
His eyes flickered, something almost like respect, or hunger, or both.
Then he leaned down, mouth brushing my ear.
"Careful, sweetheart. Threats like that? They sound an awful lot like foreplay to me."
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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
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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.