The Politics of Desire

Elvira Corleone was the precious daughter of the Corleone family, a breathtaking beauty well-known in their inner circle. Whoever dared provoke her either ended up submitting to her or as a body at the bottom of Bayton Harbor.

One day, her best friend, Lilian Allen, made a daring bet. "Vira, make my brother fall for you, and I'll give you the power of judgment over Bayton Harbor's underground scene."

Elvira grinned, bold and confident. She pressed the cigar out in the ashtray. "Lilian, you know I've never failed to get what I want."

Yet, plans never worked out the way one would expect.

The very day they made that bet, Elvira followed a lead from her informant and headed to a hidden warehouse at Bayton Harbor. It was a secret base belonging to the Allen family and the place where Vincent Allen handled his business.

She had planned to stage a "coincidental encounter," but she never expected to push open the door and see Vincent burning with fever. He was completely disoriented and clearly drugged.

The scent of a powerful sedative filled the air.

Two bodyguards lay unconscious on the ground, and a Lucero family emblem was left behind in the corner.

Obviously, a rival family had planned to abduct Vincent and use him to threaten the Allens.

Elvira's pupils constricted. She moved to step back out and call for help, but he suddenly grabbed her wrist. His skin was burning hot, and the calm in his deep eyes had vanished.

What remained was pure, primal desire.

"Help me..."

His voice was low and hoarse, with a hint of vulnerability that was hard to ignore.

Elvira's heart skipped a beat. She knew this was the perfect chance to get close to him.

…

That night, desire twisted through the warehouse's shadows as Elvira became Vincent's antidote. From then on, their relationship grew wildly in the dark over the next three years.

In the hidden chamber of Vincent's office, inside a private jet's storage cabin, in the prep room of an underground boxing ring, every secret corner controlled by the Allen family held traces of their entanglement.

Elvira thought she had already melted this cold, unfeeling man. That was until the day she stood outside a private room during a secret family gathering and heard the conversation that destroyed her.

She had found Vincent's obsidian cufflink, a symbol belonging only to the Allen family's inner circle. She planned to return it, but before she could knock, the voices inside drifted out.

"Vincent, Elvira's completely devoted to you. When are you planning to make her your wife?"

The person teasing him was one of Vincent's closest friends.

Elvira's heart clenched. Her fingers turned pale from the strain.

The next moment, Vincent's cool voice rang out, light and careless, yet every word was ice-cold. "She's just a sexual partner. Why would I marry her?"

Silence fell inside the room.

"But it's been three years... Do you still have feelings for her?" someone asked