'The Claim'

Even if Lilith was the daughter of one of the city’s most successful businessmen, she never trusted her father. Money built the mansion she lived in, but it never built warmth between them. Most nights, she avoided home entirely, spending her time working at a small café downtown where nobody cared about her last name.

That night, exhaustion weighed on her shoulders as she pushed open the mansion doors. The house was unusually quiet.

Her father sat alone at the dining table beneath the dim chandelier light, papers scattered across the polished wood. Half-empty whiskey glasses stood beside him, his trembling hands gripping a crumpled contract.

Lilith frowned, dropping her bag onto the chair.

“What’s all this mess?”

Her father didn’t look up immediately. The faint scent of whiskey clung to his coat, and when he finally raised his head, fear filled his pale face — a kind of fear she had never seen before.

He swallowed hard.

“It’s done,” he whispered. “The debt’s cleared. You’re marrying Enzo Vincenzo next Saturday.”

Silence crashed over the room.

Lilith’s head snapped toward him, disbelief twisting into anger.

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“Why didn’t you ask me first?”

Her father flinched at the sharpness in her voice. He reached across the table as if to touch her hand, but stopped halfway.

“I had no choice,” he said, voice cracking with shame. “He would’ve killed me. He would’ve killed all of us.”

Lilith stared at him, fury boiling inside her chest.

“I told you many times,” she hissed. “I’m not marrying someone unless I choose them myself.”

Her palm slammed against the dining table, making the crystal glasses rattle violently.

“Cancel it. Now.”

Tears welled in her father’s eyes as he shook his head.

“I can’t. The contract’s signed. If we back out now, we don’t just die—”

“We burn.”

Lilith’s breathing turned sharp.

“Then I’d rather die than marry a man I don’t love.”

She grabbed the contract and tore it straight down the middle.

Paper ripped through the silence like thunder.

Small fragments drifted onto the marble floor while her father went completely pale.

Before he could speak, the front door creaked open.

Heavy footsteps echoed through the mansion.

Lilith slowly turned.

A man stood in the doorway, dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit. His amber eyes were cold, unreadable, and terrifyingly calm. Power clung to him like smoke.

Enzo Vincenzo.

The most feared man in the city.

He stepped inside without hurry, brushing dust from his sleeve as if he were walking into a business meeting rather than a broken home. His gaze dropped to the torn contract pieces scattered across the floor before lifting slowly to Lilith.

“You’re Lilith.”

His voice was deep and calm.

“I’m Enzo Vincenzo.”

Lilith lifted her chin defiantly despite the fear crawling beneath her skin.

“So you’re the man I’m supposed to marry?”

Enzo studied her silently for a moment before a cold smile touched the corner of his mouth.

“Sharp,” he murmured. “I like that.”

His gaze flicked toward the torn paper.

“Shame you ripped up my contract.”

“Yeah?” Lilith shot back. “And you’re shameless too. Who the hell do you think you are?”

Without warning, she stormed toward the kitchen counter, unlocking the hidden compartment beneath it and pulling out a handgun.

Her father gasped.

The gun trembled slightly in her grip as she pointed it directly at Enzo’s chest.

But Enzo didn’t move.

Didn’t even blink.

A faint amusement flickered in his amber eyes.

“Clever girl,” he said softly. “Your father never mentioned you kept a gun.”

“Of course he didn’t.”

Lilith tightened her grip, though her heartbeat hammered violently in her ears.

Enzo took one slow step forward.

“Go on,” he said calmly. “Pull the trigger. If that’s truly what you want.”

The room felt suffocatingly still.

Lilith’s finger twitched against the trigger before she suddenly lowered the gun, rage burning in her eyes.

“I’m never seeing you again.”

She turned toward her father, betrayal written all over her face.

Then she ran.

The mansion doors slammed behind her moments later as her white car sped out of the driveway, gravel scattering beneath the tires.

Enzo simply watched from the window.

Smoke curled from the cigarette between his fingers as a slow smile crossed his face.

“She’ll come back,” he murmured.

“No one runs from me forever.”

Behind him, Lilith’s father stood frozen with fear, unable to meet the mafia king’s eyes.