Pampered By The Ruthless Northern Warden

ars to marry the S

ays, Silas laughed with his men and

his adopted sister,

e ceremonial altar, letting the whole ma

cked me in an underground fighting cage for his s

hreatened to give my entire dowry and family territori

, only to realize I was just a convenient s

ally went co

nt crest into the trash and burne

ncient laws of severa

ing the ar

rth, arrived with an armored motorcade to cl

n the glass with bloodshot e

ith flat, dead calm an

pte

a's

ular impression into my palm, its metal edge carr

of Silas's office, the very breath s

os that he was never going to claim me. Tomorrow, he bragged, he would elevate his adopted sister t

ping from beneath the doorframe co

the Old Ways. Within the electrified concrete walls of the Central Estate, the rules were harder than bone: an unclaimed woman who presented her loyalty token for ov

ed in my stomach like a lump of swallowe

thday. And every year, he had manufactured a new, convenient excuse to delay the form

I pressed my ear closer to the wood. A Capo's gravelly voice

the ring on her finger at the

t chuckle that sent a tremor

ilas sneered. "She won't mind waiting a twelfth

rena into the inner circle instead. Serena, he claimed, needed the protection far more than I

at the blood‑ruby crest resting in my palm. I had driven three grueling days through hostile

darker thought surfaced. I knew exactly w

ssa

n who, armed with nothing but a grooved skinning blade, had painted the boardroom of a rival cartel a deep, uniform crimson.

y veins as I finally turn

le, each step an automatic, disconnected motion. Without a second thoug

dull, hollow clank. It sounded exactl

te to prepare for the annual Syndicate Gala. I knew with absolute cer

tes gathering in the courtyard below. They were already whispering. Whenever their gaze

ost‑like reflection. Her own eyes were dry, but I saw what lived behind them-the guilt of a w

of my gown. She didn't speak a single word; the silence between us

door to the su

d every inch the ruthless, rising Underboss. Sergio Valente, tailored in M

in my direction. Instead, he immediately pivoted toward the ad

silk robe. She gazed up at Silas with wide, impossib

fore," she murmured softly, pouting her lip

smiled at her-a warm, breathtakingly gentle

ion, he stepped

broad back. In that instant, a vivid, n

rground holding cage. I remembered the damp, metallic stenc

to gawk and jeer at. He had called it a fair punishment. "She needs to learn

a Polaroid photo of the two of them sleeping in the same bed. Just sleeping,

light, twitching spasm. I had expected a tearing sensation

e from the velvet chair. My heart was completely, ir

r, Silas paused and tossed a ca

flatly. "And wait for

first time in eleven years