The Man I Burned
"You have five seconds. Give me one reason I should not bury you tonight."
Sera Malone sat in the back of a black car with zip-tied hands and a wet blindfold on her lap. She had already said goodbye to herself three times on the ride over.
"Because you asked," she said. "And killers do not ask."
Silence.
Five years ago, Sera sat three feet from the most dangerous man in Chicago and told the whole truth in open court. Dante Vitale went to prison. She lost everything that followed: her job, her apartment, her fiance, and two years of her life running from people who wanted her dead.
Now Dante is out. He is the new godfather of the Vitale family. He is untouchable and feared. And on a quiet Tuesday night, his people took her from her front porch while she was carrying groceries.
She expects a basement. She expects pain.
Instead, he sits across from her in a candlelit room and says the last thing she ever imagined:
"You were the only person who ever told the truth to my face. I want you close because of that. Not in spite of it."
He gives her a room, not a cage. He gives her reasons, not orders. He tells her the door is unlocked. He means it.
She does not leave.
Because somewhere between his cold eyes and his careful words, Sera realizes something that terrifies her more than any gun. Dante Vitale is not the monster she destroyed. He is something far more dangerous.
He is a man she could love.
And in his world, love gets people killed.
Table of contents
Latest Update9
Three Threats in One Room2026-03-06 08:08
- 1Taken2026-03-06 08:06
- 2The Candlelit Trap2026-03-06 08:06
- 3The Five-Year File2026-03-06 08:07
- 4Deal With the Devil2026-03-06 08:07
- 5Breaking the First Rule2026-03-06 08:07
- 6What the Courtroom Left Behind2026-03-06 08:07
- 7The Argument That Starts Everything2026-03-06 08:08
- 8Glass Slippers and Loaded Guns2026-03-06 08:08
- 9Three Threats in One Room2026-03-06 08:08
Volume 1
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