"I'm sorry, for everything." His voice was sincere and his intoxicating breath brushed against my face and I staggered back a step. "I know I hurt you, though, that certainly wasn't my intention but I'm trying to protect you."
"Protect me from what?" I hissed.
"Me." He said coldly. He glared back. Finally provoked.
Are you kidding me? This was his excuse? Really? I rolled my eyes and stood up, my jaw clenched tight. "Can you at least try to be original?"
"Nuru, I can't be with you, not only is it not safe for you because in my job I piss a lot of people off," he insisted, speaking slowly. He sounded annoyed."...a third of those people want me dead, half of those would do anything to get to me — even go as far as hurt the people I care about." He shook his head with a grimace.
I wondered if I shouldn't be scared that people would want to hurt me if I continued to be in Roman's presence; instead I felt uncomfortable, the thought of staying away from him would hurt me more. The idea of abandoning Roman for a lifetime without him was repulsive to me. It made me sick. There was a connection between us I was sure only came once in a lifetime. I wouldn't leave him for anything. So why should this be any different? And a smile curved my lips. He'd admitted he cared about me — not in so many words, but still I felt a surge of pleasure.
"You had no problem with being with that stupid girl, Regina," I mumbled, wondering how much of my anxiety he could read. How much of my jealousy.
His face turned cold, expressionless. "You can't seriously compare this, us... to what I shared with"

“I want to fuck you,” he murmured into her skin.
“The manager told me... no fucking customers.”
Adriano met her eyes. “I’m your fucking boss.”
Diamond smiled, biting her lip. “Then you’ll have to pay up. Because this job? It pays criminally low.”
“Yet you’re here,” he said.
“A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do to pay the bills.”
“How much?”
Diamond tilted her head, tapping her lip thoughtfully. “Twenty thousand.”
Adriano's voice dropped low into something dangerous.
“Deal.”
In the shadows of New York City, Adriano Greco, the youngest heir of Italy’s most feared Mafia dynasty, is determined to carve his mark on American soil. Ruthless, untamed, and dangerously charming, he leads his crew with a golden serpent coiled around his arm and fire in his blood. When a high-stakes heist rockets his name into the media and law enforcement crosshairs, the last thing he expects is to find himself drawn to a fiery new obsession. A stripper hiding dark secrets connected to him.
Diamond Fontaine is beautiful, sharp-tongued, and off-limits. Adriano knows she’s trouble. He just doesn’t care.
He was supposed to conquer America. She was supposed to destroy him.
Neither of them planned on falling for the enemy. But when obsession turns into something far more dangerous, and his older brothers begin to fall in love with her too, everything the Grecos built teeters on the edge of destruction.
As enemies circle and old wars bleed into new ones, alliances will be tested, blood will be spilled, and forbidden passions will ignite, along with deadly rivalries. But in a world where loyalty is everything and betrayal lurks behind every kiss...
Who can you really trust?
Welcome to the dark, corrupt underworld. Where love is a dangerous game and survival comes with a deadly price.