Male lead: Huo Jiulin / Lin Norsen
Female lead: Ji Linlin
Florence, Italy.
Rain poured in torrents.
By the time Ji Linlin reached her apartment door, the night had grown as thick as ink.
She set her dripping-wet umbrella aside and rummaged through her bag for her keys, accidentally knocking a medical report out of her bag.
She bent down to pick it up.
It was a report confirming an AIDS diagnosis.
The name on it wasn’t hers.
It belonged to a girl her age.
Her report had probably been mixed up with someone else’s when she went to the hospital around noon to collect her checkup results.
She sighed, silently feeling sorry for the girl she had never met.
Then she opened the door.
She had barely stepped inside when—
“Ji Linlin.”
A low male voice suddenly came from behind her.
Ji Linlin shuddered. Her heart stopped, and the keys slipped from her hand, clattering to the floor.
She would never forget that voice, not even in death.
It was him.
The head of Kaweila International, Italy’s largest Mafia organization.
And the underworld godfather feared throughout Southern Europe.
—Huo Jiulin.
How had he found her in Florence?
Two years ago, she had nearly lost her life escaping this terrifying man. She had hidden in this unfamiliar city for two years.
She had thought she would never see him again for the rest of her life.
She had thought she could finally live out her days in peace.
But… was there really no escaping him?
Was she going to become his possession all over again?
Pretending she hadn’t heard him, Ji Linlin shut the door as fast as she could.
But Huo Jiulin braced the door with one powerful hand. With the other, he seized her waist and yanked hard.
He dragged her bodily inside.
He was soaked through.
Water dripped from his black trench coat and the ends of his stray, dark-gold locks, soon soaking a large patch of the floor.
He lowered his eyes to look at her.
When his gaze met her restless, darting black eyes—
It was as if he could see all the longing that had built up over countless days and nights surging before him.
The feeling was as uncontrollable as an undercurrent in the deep sea about to break through the surface.
An unreadable half-smile hovered on his face.
“Ji Linlin, I’ve searched the whole world for you these past two years.”
His brows drew tightly together as he struggled to suppress the storm of emotion rising inside him.
“I never imagined you’d been hiding right under my nose.”
But the slight tremor of his lips betrayed the vulnerability and excitement in his heart.
He breathed in the faint fragrance of her hair, greedily, as if savoring a memory.
His hand tightened around her slender waist, dragging her fiercely against his chest.
Ji Linlin was hauled against his chest with such force that she felt his heart pounding.
The man’s throat bobbed. He felt her whole body tremble.
Ji Linlin struggled to push him away. “Huo Jiulin, let go of me!”
But the ferocity in his eyes only deepened.
His large hand, its knuckles sharply defined, tightened around her slender waist, as though he wanted to crush her entire body into his.
Then he demanded forcefully:
“Do you know what I’ve been through in the two years since you ran away?”
Yet if you listened closely, there was an almost pleading humility beneath his words.
Two years of longing converged in that moment. Fierce lust surged like a tide, rushing straight to his head.
He longed to pin her to the bed and have sex with her in a frenzy, to hold her close and lie entwined with her, to become one with her.
His breathing grew ragged. He lifted her chin, trying to kiss her.
Ji Linlin turned her face away, the corners of her eyes glistening with tears of hurt and grievance.
“Huo Jiulin, let go of me!”
Huo Jiulin tightened his hold slightly, leaving her no room to catch her breath.
“What are you afraid of? It’s not the first time we’ve had sex.”
His long fingers dug into her loose black hair, clutching at it haphazardly.
A mad possessiveness surged in his eyes.
“You know that when I want to do something to you, you can’t get away.”
He was about to crush his lips against hers in a possessive kiss.
What should she do?
How could she stop him?
Before she could think, the words slipped out:
“Huo Jiulin! I have AIDS!”
At that, the man froze. His eyes darkened, impossible to read.
“If you don’t want to die with me, let go.”
Trembling, Ji Linlin pulled out the report, from which she had torn off a corner.
Huo Jiulin lowered his head and looked at it.
The name had been torn away, but the age matched Ji Linlin’s.
A moment later, his fierce expression abruptly darkened.
His lust vanished in an instant.
In its place came shock, worry, and helplessness.
He was worried sick about her, yet stubbornly refused to soften his words.
“Ji Linlin, is this the life you were so desperate to leave me for?”
His tone was no longer as forceful as before.
A self-mocking smile tugged at his lips, cold enough to chill him to the core.
“Living in this tiny, run-down apartment.”
“And you’ve even contracted AIDS…”
He gripped her wrist lightly.
“In these two years since you ran away, I haven’t slept with another woman even once.”
A frenzied darkness roiled deep in his eyes; the thread of his self-control seemed ready to snap.
“Tell me. How many men have you been with since you left me?”
What kind of dissolute life had she been living to contract a disease like this?
Yet every word was also thick with jealousy, enough to drive him mad.
Ji Linlin twisted her slender wrist. “Let go of me.”
Huo Jiulin slowly closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, falling into utter silence.
Then he opened them again and pulled her toward the door.
Ji Linlin struggled backward, unable to wrench herself free. “Where are you taking me?”
“To get you treated!”
His voice was resolute, leaving no room for argument.
Ji Linlin shook her head. “Let go of me. I’m not going!”
Huo Jiulin simply scooped her up in his arms. He lowered his head and kissed her without hesitation.
Ji Linlin’s eyes flew open. A numb, shivering sensation ran through her, as if ten thousand currents of electricity were coursing through her body.
She broke free and cried out in alarm, “Huo Jiulin, are you crazy?”
But he bit down hard again, his lips moving insistently back and forth against hers.
His kiss was urgent and fierce, as if he meant to pour all the longing in his heart into her through it.
Ji Linlin felt as though her very soul were about to be pulled out through her mouth.
Huo Jiulin held the back of her head and kissed her harder and harder.
Only he knew what he had been through during the two years she had been away from him.
“Ji Linlin, haven’t I gone mad?”
“If you really have AIDS, then I’ll die with you.”
Male supporting character: Qiaoke Helan
Female supporting character: Sophie
Male supporting character: Ji Shutang
Reader’s Guide
Caocao, physically impaired but strong-willed, is back yet again!
This is a story in which, on the surface, the male lead coerces the female lead, but in reality, she is the one who tames him.
Male lead: Huo Jiulin (Lin Norsen), 26 years old, 193 cm, Chinese-Italian mixed heritage.
Female lead: Ji Linlin, 18 years old, 163 cm, a Chinese woman settled in Thailand.
See the synopsis for their personalities. Neither lead has had any other sexual partners.
The male lead is exceptionally handsome and well-built, but has no moral compass. He is sexually faithful, though otherwise he has no scruples.
This is an ensemble story with lots of characters, and more than one couple!