Vows Of A Heartless Don: A dark mafia romance

✨️𝑴𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔💫

✨️𝑨𝒓𝒊𝒂: A fiercely independent creative with striking, midnight-black hair that she usually throws up into a messy bun. She prefers a casual denim jacket over designer gowns and possesses a sharp, sarcastic tongue that refuses to bow down to wealth or power.

✨️𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑨𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊: The cold-blooded, ruthlessly handsome kingpin ruling Manhattan’s corporate and criminal underworld. He is a towering wall of muscle, clad in tailored suits, with intricate dark tattoos crawling up his hands and wrapping fiercely around his neck. Haunted by a bitter past betrayal, he believes everyone has a price tag—until he meets his match.

Chapter 1: The Gilded Cage

The heavy iron gates of the Armani estate slammed shut behind the limousine with a deafening, metallic thud that sounded exactly like a cell door locking me away forever. I sat stiffly against the leather seats, watching the dark, rain-soaked Manhattan night blur outside the tinted windows. My hands tightly gripped the lace of my white wedding dress, wrinkling the expensive fabric, but I didn’t care. I hadn’t wanted this wedding, and I certainly hadn’t wanted the man currently sitting across from me in the shadows of the vehicle. To save my family from a lethal underworld debt, I had been traded away like a piece of corporate property to the most terrifying, heartless kingpin in the city’s dark syndicate.

Cassian Armani didn’t look at me as the car pulled up to the grand front entrance of his massive mansion. He sat with his long, muscular legs crossed, staring out his own window, his sharp jawline clenched into a block of solid granite. He was a towering wall of absolute masculine power, his bespoke black suit stretching impossibly tight over his broad shoulders, his skin covered in hints of tattoos peaking out from beneath his crisp white cuffs. He was richer than god, having built his family’s empire up from the absolute mud after a brutal past betrayal left him cold and ruthless. But to him, I was just another disloyal, superficial girl who could be bought with a price tag.

When the driver opened the door, Cassian stepped out into the pouring rain without offering me a hand. I dragged the heavy wet train of my gown up the stone steps myself, stepping into the grand marble foyer with my chin held high, refusing to let him see the terrifying panic clawing at my chest.

“Don’t get comfortable in this house, Aria,” Cassian growled low, his deep, gravelly voice a rough purr that instantly echoed off the high cavernous walls. He turned around slowly, his piercing dark eyes scanning down my soaked frame with a look of pure, aristocratic disdain. He walked up to me, his intoxicating scent of expensive tobacco and cedarwood cologne filling my lungs as he stopped just inches away, completely cutting off the room’s light. “You are only here because your father ran out of cards to play. You belong to the Armani estate until the debt is paid in full.”

“I know exactly why I’m here, big guy,” I snapped back defiantly, my sharp, sarcastic tongue moving faster than my survival instincts as I crossed my arms over my chest. I stared straight into his breathtakingly handsome, frozen face, refusing to cower beneath his massive weight. “But don’t get it twisted. I don’t want your billions, I don’t want your luxury black cards, and I sure as hell don’t want your toxic attitude. You can control my location, but you don’t own me.”

A dark, cruel smirk touched his lips, his eyes turning completely, aggressively black with an unbridled, possessive madness as he reached out, his long, warm fingers gripping my jaw with a bruising force that forced my head back. “I’ve met your kind before, sweetheart. Girls like you will do anything for a taste of wealth, but you’ll sell your loyalty to the highest bidder the second things get rough. You all have a price tag, and I’m going to make sure you remember yours.”

“My respect isn’t for sale, corporate psycho,” I hissed right back, twisting violently out of his grip and shooting him a lethal glare. Cassian’s jaw clenched so tightly a small vein throbbing violently at his temple looked like it was about to burst, his possessive alpha dominance radiating off his frame in a freezing wave of anger. He didn’t say another word—he just pointed a long finger toward the grand staircase, letting me know that my time in his beautiful, cruel cage had officially begun.