The mafioso's obsession

The mafioso's obsession

Joice Karen

65.3k Words / Ongoing
954
Hot
1k
Views

Introduction

I have recurring dreams about a mysterious man who watches over me as I sleep. But I know he can’t be real—at least, that’s what I thought until today.

I’ve spent my life running with my mother. She always said we couldn’t stay in one place for more than six months. Whenever I asked why, she never gave me an answer.

On my 18th birthday, I decided to apply to university. I thought it was a good way to start adulthood. I should’ve listened to my mother.

The consequence of disobeying her came that same day. The reason we’ve been running all these years was to escape my sadistic, mafia father. His first words to me were: “You showed up at the perfect age to get married. Go get ready to meet your fiancé.”

I had to behave—for the sake of my mother’s safety.

My fiancé was old enough to be my grandfather and looked at me like I was his favorite dessert. But he wasn’t the one who caught my attention. His son did.

Standing beside the man I was promised to… was the man from my dreams, in the flesh—dangerous, tempting, and very real.

All I want now is to find a way to escape, but now that I know he exists, I realize I won’t get very far.
Read More

Share the book to

facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

About Author

Joice Karen

Chapter 1

The way a vein bulges on my mom’s forehead can mean only two things:

Meaning #1: Her blood pressure must be so high from stress that she could pass out any minute.

Meaning #2: She’s about to tie me up and lock me in the bathroom until I "cool down."

Honestly, both could happen, just hopefully not in that order. It would be tragic to spend my entire day locked in the bathroom because my mom decided to faint from stress.

“Get back here while I’m talking to you, you disrespectful brat! Leonor! I swear I’ll tie you to the bed if you keep turning your back on me!” she shouts, charging after me.

I shove my earbuds in and crank the music to full blast. She can scream all she wants. The conversation is over. I’ve made up my mind, I’m celebrating my 18th birthday in style. Meaning: as far away from her ridiculous restrictions as possible.

I rush out the front door before Lady Leonora can catch me. Leonor and Leonora. It has to be some cruel joke only my parents found funny when they named me. It’s ridiculous, especially when we go to any office together and someone calls out our names. First, it causes confusion. Second, everyone pretends it’s funny when it’s clearly awful.

It’s like when an ugly girl puts in effort and someone calls her “cute.” She’s still ugly, she knows it, the person who said it knows it, and everyone agrees it’s a consolation prize in the form of a compliment.

I make it exactly three steps outside before luck betrays me, no one else is in the hallway. My beloved mother manages to drag me right back in by the neck.

Ah, motherly love! Lady Leonora throws me onto the couch like a sack of guilt and control. I toss my earbuds and shoulder bag to the side and yank the scarf from around my neck, trying to catch my breath.

She knows I hate when she does this. She knows I hate being dragged around like I’m still a child. I’m almost an adult and she still treats me like I’m five.

“Sometimes I hate you,” are the first words out of my mouth after I recover.

She hands me a drink, I take it reluctantly. I down it in one go and nearly choke on the burn. She pours me another. I take this one slower.

“You’re not going out today. Period,” she says again.

“It’s my 18th birthday. I get to decide how I want to celebrate. And I sure as hell don’t want to spend it locked up here with you.” I knock back the second drink, then hand her my glass. She takes it and places it on the liquor table.

“No more whiskey. You don’t deserve it.”

We stare each other down while she sips hers like she’s at a gala. She never blinks. She can drink, stare, and even drive without blinking. The woman has taken turns relying solely on her peripheral vision. We’ve nearly died, multiple times.

I roll my eyes. She wins the stare-off. Again.

“I hate you. Did I say that already?” I mutter, pulling out my phone to cancel plans with my friends.

Someday I’ll be able to win an argument without having to flee. Someday I’ll stand up to my mom even if it means crashing the damn car. Someday I’ll grow up to be just like her. And when that day comes, maybe the world will explode from trying to handle both of us existing in it.

“Hate me safely. At home,” she says.

Then, just for good measure, she locks the front door with a password. A password. That’s just cheating.

“Why can’t I at least invite people over? Look at this apartment, Leonora! I could throw a rager in the living room and you wouldn’t hear a thing in your bedroom. What’s your problem with me?”

“If you’re not mature enough to stay home and trust your mother, who, by the way, does everything in this life to keep you safe, then you’re not ready for this conversation,” she says, setting her drink aside.

She struts over to the couch, sits next to me, and crosses her legs with perfect grace. A real lady, my mother. Always right, always in control of my life.

I text the group chat to cancel. Just my luck. I was finally going to flirt with that new guy at the beach bar. I have no right to happiness. She won’t allow it.

“I can’t accept something without knowing what I’m accepting. That’s the bare minimum for signing a contract, you taught me that,” I say. She gives me the look, the one right before a full-blown mom-lecture.

If I try to run, will she drag me back by the neck and lock me up again? Honestly, might be better than losing another argument.

I toss my phone aside and brace for impact. The faster I surrender, the faster she’ll finish, and I can escape.

“You’re not signing a contract. You’re trusting your mother, the person who loves you most in the world. You know that, Leonor,” she says, brushing my bangs aside.

“I know. But that doesn’t mean I have to accept everything you impose. Trust goes both ways, Leonora, and you don’t trust me,” I say, arms crossed, until I remember she once told me that’s a defensive posture when you feel threatened.

I uncross them and adjust my posture to match hers.

“Exactly, Leonor. Trust is mutual. And you haven’t earned mine yet. The day I feel like you’re mature enough to talk about the past, we will. Until then, we won’t,” she says, then pulls me into her lap.

I hate when she does that. I bite back the urge to argue, to scream that she’s wrong, that I am mature, that I am trustworthy. One day I’ll win, I swear.

“I hate you. I really do. So much,” I mutter. She smiles, knowing she’s won. Again. “Can I at least choose my cake flavor? Or have you already ordered it without asking me?”

“Chocolate with caramel frosting and marshmallow letters. Same as always,” she replies casually.

I want to scream that I’m not a child anymore, but damn, I really love that combo.

I slide off her lap and sit back down, frustrated.

“I’m going to bed early. I’ll spend my last moments as a seventeen-year-old sulking, locked up at home with my mother,” I say, grabbing my things and leaving the room.

She doesn’t protest. I take that as a win.

In my bedroom, I lock the door, just in case she gets the urge to lecture more. If she’s going to call me immature, I might as well act the part. I can’t even invite friends over. Absurd.

I change into pajamas: tank top, shorts, banana-and-space-themed socks. I lie down and ignore the outraged messages from my friends.

The ceiling is painted like a galaxy. I switch on my special light for extra cosmic effect. I feel like I’m floating in space, free to drift wherever I want.

I pull out my special pill from its hiding place. Even my mom doesn’t know about it, and she knows everything I try to hide. I swallow it and stare at the ceiling, waiting for the effect.

I don’t know when it hits me, but suddenly I’m floating. So light.

The closet door creaks open on its own. But I’m too out of it to care. Ghosts don’t scare me.

What steps out isn’t a ghost, it’s a man. Tall, broad-shouldered. I recognize him, even though it’s been two years since he last visited me.

I stretch out my hand, inviting him to lie beside me. He walks toward me, dangerous and silent.

Comments

No comments yet.

You Might Like 😍

Fangs, Fate & Other Bad Decisions

Fangs, Fate & Other Bad Decisions

Ongoing · Elizma Du Toit
Some bad decisions come back to bite you. Literally.

After finding out her boyfriend cheated, the last thing she expected was to stumble across a wounded man in an alley. And definitely not one with fangs. But thanks to a mix of cocktails, shame, and her questionable life choices, she takes him home. Turns out, he’s not just any vampire—he’s a king. And according to him, she’s his fated mate.

Now, she’s stuck with an overprotective, brooding bloodsucker who keeps rescuing her, a growing list of enemies who want her dead, and an undeniable attraction that’s making it very hard to remember why falling for a vampire is a terrible idea.

Because if she’s not careful, she won’t just lose her heart—she’ll lose her humanity.
My Marked Luna

My Marked Luna

Completed · Sunshine Princess
"Will you continue to disobey me?" he asks, his gaze cool and hard.
"Yes,"
He exhales, raises his hand, and brings it down to slap my naked as again... harder than before. I gasp at the impact. It hurts, but it is so hot, and sexy.
"Will you do it again?"
"No,"
"No, what?"
"No, Sir,"
"Best girl," he brings his lips to kiss my behind while he caresses it softly.
"Now, I'm going to fck you," He sits me on his lap in a straddling position. We lock gazes. His long fingers find their way to my entrance and insert them.
"You're soaking for me, baby," he is pleased. He moves his fingers in and out, making me moan in pleasure.
"Hmm," But suddenly, they are gone. I cry as he leaves my body aching for him. He switches our position within a second, so I'm under him. My breath is shallow, and my senses are incoherent as I anticipate his hardness in me. The feeling is fantastic.
"Please," I beg. I want him. I need it so badly.
"So, how would you like to come, baby?" he whispers.
Oh, goddess!


Apphia's life is harsh, from being mistreated by her pack members to her mate rejecting her brutally. She is on her own. Battered on a harsh night, she meets her second chance mate, the powerful, dangerous Lycan Alpha, and boy, is she in for the ride of her life. However, everything gets complicated as she discovers she is no ordinary wolf. Tormented by the threat to her life, Apphia has no choice but to face her fears. Will Apphia be able to defeat the iniquity after her life and finally be happy with her mate? Follow for more.
Warning: Mature Content
585.4k Views
Off Limits, Brother's Best Friend

Off Limits, Brother's Best Friend

Ongoing · Oguike Queeneth
“You are so fucking wet.” He nipped my skin and pulled me up to sink me down his length.

“You are going to take every inch of me.” He whispered as he thrusted up.

“Fuck, you feel so fucking good. Is this what you wanted, my dick inside you?” He asked, knowing I have benticing him since the beginning.

“Y..yes,” I breathed.


Brianna Fletcher had been running from dangerous men all her life but when she got an opportunity to stay with his elder brother after graduation, there she met the most dangerous of them all. Her brother's best friend, a mafia Don. He radiated danger but she couldn't stay away.

He knows his best friend's little sister is off limits and yet, he couldn't stop thinking of her.

Will they be able to break all rules and find closure in each other's arms?
The Prison Project

The Prison Project

Ongoing · Bethany Donaghy
The government's newest experiment in criminal rehabilitation - sending thousands of young women to live alongside some of the most dangerous men held behind bars...

Can love tame the untouchable? Or will it only fuel the fire and cause chaos amongst the inmates?

Fresh out of high school and suffocating in her dead-end hometown, Margot longs for her escape. Her reckless best friend, Cara, thinks she's found the perfect way out for them both - The Prisoner Project - a controversial program offering a life-changing sum of money in exchange for time spent with maximum-security inmates.

Without hesitation, Cara rushes to sign them up.

Their reward? A one-way ticket into the depths of a prison ruled by gang leaders, mob bosses, and men the guards wouldn't even dare to cross...

At the centre of it all, meets Coban Santorelli - a man colder than ice, darker than midnight, and as deadly as the fire that fuels his inner rage. He knows that the project may very well be his only ticket to freedom - his only ticket to revenge on the one who managed to lock him up and so he must prove that he can learn to love…

Will Margot be the lucky one chosen to help reform him?

Will Coban be capable of bringing something to the table other than just sex?

What starts off as denial may very well grow in to obsession which could then fester in to becoming true love…

A temperamental romance novel.
Goddess Of The Underworld.

Goddess Of The Underworld.

Ongoing · sheridan.hartin
Left at a pack border with a name and a stubborn heartbeat, Envy grows into the sharpest kind of survivor, an orphaned warrior who knows how to hold a line and keep moving. Love isn’t in the plan…until four alpha wolves with playboy reputations and inconveniently soft hands decide the girl who won’t bow is the only queen they’ll ever take. Their mate. The one they have waited for. Xavier, Haiden, Levi, and Noah are gorgeous, lethal, and anything but perfect and Envy isn’t either. She’s changing. First into hell hound, Layah at her heels and fire in her veins. Then into what the realm has been waiting for, a Goddess of the Underworld, dragging her mates down to hell with her. Then finally into lycan princess, stronger, faster, the moon finally answering back, giving her exactly what she needs to protect her family.

When the veil between the Divine, the Living, and the Dead begins to crack, Envy is thrust beneath with a job she can’t drop: keep the worlds from bleeding together, shepherd the lost, and make ordinary into armor, breakfasts, bedtime, battle plans. Peace lasts exactly one lullaby. This is the story of a border pup who became a goddess by choosing her family; of four imperfect alphas learning how to stay; of cake, iron, and daylight negotiations. Steamy, fierce, and full of heart, Goddess of the Underworld is a why-choose, found-family paranormal romance where love writes the rules and keeps three realms from falling apart.
424k Views
Surrendering to Destiny

Surrendering to Destiny

Completed · Allison Franklin
Catherine is not only a rogue half-breed, she is also the result of mate-bond infidelity, was abandoned as a baby and, to top it off, she can only shift during the full moon. When Catherine left the only pack she'd ever known in order to escape the new alpha, the last thing she expected was to find her mate... let alone for him to be the mouth-watering, heavily tattooed, lead warrior of the most feared lycan pack on the continent.

Graham MacTavish wasn't prepared to find his mate in the small town of Sterling that borders the Blackmoore Packlands. He certainly didn't expect her to be a rogue, half-breed who smelled of Alpha blood. With her multi-colored eyes, there was no stopping him from falling hard the moment their mate bond snapped into place. He would do anything to claim her, protect her and cherish her no matter the cost.

From vengeful ex-lovers, pack politics, species prejudice, hidden plots, magic, kidnapping, poisoning, rogue attacks, and a mountain of secrets including Catherine's true parentage there is no shortage of things trying to tear the two apart.

Despite the hardships, a burning desire and willingness to trust will help forge a strong bond between the two... but no bond is unbreakable. When the secrets kept close to heart are slowly revealed, will the two be able to weather the storm? Or will the gift bestowed upon Catherine by the moon goddess be too insurmountable to overcome?
480.5k Views
Crowned by Fate

Crowned by Fate

Completed · Tina Savage
“You think I’d share my mate? Just stand by and watch while you fuck another woman and have her kids?”
“She’d just be a Breeder, you would be the Luna. Once she’s pregnant, I wouldn’t touch her again.” my mate Leon’s jaw tightened.
I laughed, a bitter, broken sound.
“You’re unbelievable. I’d rather accept your rejection than live like that.”


As a girl without a wolf, I left my mate and my pack behind.
Among humans, I survived by becoming a master of the temporary: drifting job to job… until I became the best bartender in a dusty Texas town.
That’s where Alpha Adrian found me.
No one could resist the charming Adrian, and I joined his mysterious pack hidden deep in the desert.
The Alpha King Tournament, held once every four years, had begun. Over fifty packs from across North America were competing.
The werewolf world was on the verge of a revolution. That’s when I saw Leon again...
Torn between two Alphas, I had no idea that what awaited us wasn’t just a competition—but a series of brutal, unforgiving trials.
Author Note:New book out now! The River Knows Her Name
Mystery, secrets, suspense—your next page-turner is here.
The War God Alpha's Arranged Bride

The War God Alpha's Arranged Bride

Completed · Riley Above Story
On the day Evelyn thought Liam would propose, he shocked her by getting down on one knee—for her stepsister, Samantha. As if that betrayal wasn’t enough, Evelyn learned the cruel truth: her parents had already decided to sell one daughter’s future to a dangerous man: the infamous War God Alpha Alexander, who was rumored to be scarred and crippled after a recent accident. And the bride could’t be their precious daughter Samantha. However, when the "ugly and crippled" Alpha revealed his true self—an impossibly handsome billionaire with no trace of injury—Samantha had a change of heart. She was ready to dump Liam and take Evelyn's place as the family daughter who should marry Alexander.
Yet Alexander made his decision clear to the world: “Evelyn is the only woman I will ever marry.”
The Shadow Of A Luna

The Shadow Of A Luna

Completed · The Moon Goddess
All of a sudden there was a growl that ripped through the room and the band stopped playing and I heard something smash. Like it was a wooden chair or something.
Everyone looked in that direction and there was a man standing there that I had never noticed before. He would have been in his early 20's, brown hair to his shoulders, a brown goatee, 6-foot 6 at least and very defined muscles that were now tense as his intense gaze was staring directly at me and Mason.
But I didn't know who he was. I was frozen in the spot and this man was just staring at us with pure hatred in his eyes. But then I realized that the hatred was for Mason. Not me.
"Mine." He demanded.
963.1k Views
The Matchmaker

The Matchmaker

Ongoing · Sophie Smith
Saphira White has spent her life as an outcast—unloved, ignored, and falsely accused of a crime she didn’t commit. Abandoned by her mother and raised in the ruthless Silvermoon Pack, she’s treated as nothing more than a shadow. When her step-sister Ruby brands her a murderer, the pack delivers the cruellest punishment of all: exile to the Matchmaker, the most feared institution in supernatural history.

No one escapes the Matchmaker unscathed. The process is simple—each participant is paired with a supernatural being, often sealing their fate with blood. Death is the most common outcome, and Saphira expects nothing less. But when the impossible happens, she is matched with a creature so legendary, so powerful, that even the bravest tremble at its name—a royal dragon.

Now bound to an ancient force of destruction, Saphira finds herself among the royal pack. With them, she navigates a world of power, deception, and destiny. As she walks this new path, familiar faces resurface, bringing long-buried secrets to light. Her heritage—once a mystery—begins to unravel, revealing a truth that may change everything.
Alpha's White Lie

Alpha's White Lie

Ongoing · Shazza Writes
“I want you. All of you. Your past, your present and your future. You are beautiful Rosalie and I wish I could show you how beautiful through my eyes.” He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled my flush against his chest.


When a new guy moves into the empty apartment across the hall, Rosalie Peters finds herself lured towards the hunky man. Blake Cooper is a very hot, successful, and wealthy businessman with a life built on a little white lie.
Rosy’s life, on the other hand, is full of mystery. She’s hiding a secret that would tear apart love and friendship.
As the secrets in Rosy’s life start to unfold, she finds herself seeking refuge with Blake.
What Rosy didn’t anticipate was Blake’s admiration for her was so much more than just love; It was supernatural.
Life for Rosy changes when she discovers that Blake’s biggest secret was animalistic and so much bigger than hers!
Will Blake’s white lies make or break his relationship with Rosy?
How will Rosy adjust to all the secrets that throw her life into chaos?
And what will happen when Blake’s twin brother, Max, comes forward to claim his twin bond with Rosy’s?!
The Rejected Luna: From Outcast to Alpha Queen

The Rejected Luna: From Outcast to Alpha Queen

Completed · Daisy Swift
Five years. Five years I gave everything to Paxton Sterling—my heart, my body, my wolf's soul. I built his empire as Chief Strategy Officer while wearing his mark like a badge of honor.

Then she came back.

Layla—my pure-blooded half-sister with her perfect smile and poison tongue. Within days of her return from Europe, Paxton was ready to throw me away like yesterday's news.

"I want to sever our bond, Freya. Lyra is my true mate."

Wrong move, Alpha.

He thinks I'm just another submissive mate who'll quietly disappear. He's forgotten I'm a mixed-blood Alpha who's been playing nice for far too long. While he's busy playing house with my backstabbing sister, Lucas Morgan—the most dangerous Alpha in the territory—is making me an offer I can't refuse.

Paxton wants to discard me? Fine.

But he's about to learn that some women don't just walk away—they burn everything down on their way out.

I'm done being the good girl. Done being the perfect mate. Done hiding what I really am.
Take you Fall into Fantasy.

Download AnyStories App to discover more Fantasy Stories.