Matthew Blaine ran a dangerous, underground mafia organization. He was a cold blooded killer that didn’t hold feelings for anything or anyone. Mr. Blaine was menacing and secretive, never opening up.

At the age of 32, Matthew had killed more people with his bare hands than he could bother counting. He was a billionaire—he didn’t need things like a wife and children.

Emery Ivor became a single father at 17 when his older sister died giving birth to her son. They had no family left, and the dad had vanished, leaving the little boy with Emery.

Now at 20, Emery protected Hayes with everything he had; he would do anything for his 3 year old son.

Being a single father at such a young age was hard and gruesome. Emery didn’t have enough money to take care of himself and Hayes, so he did the only thing he could do: work for the underground mafia.

Though highly illegal and risky, the underground mafia paid very well, even straight off the bat. Emery didn’t have it in him to kill anyone—he was too sweet and shy—so he applied for the position of the boss’ assistant.

All of Matthew’s past assistants never lasted more than a couple of weeks. The boss was cruel and unforgiving. Even the smallest of mistakes ended in his assistant’s death.

Surprisingly, Emery had survived working as Matthew’s assistant for just over 3 months now. After every, small screw up that Emery managed to do, Matthew let the boy off the hook with no punishments whatsoever.

Matthew’s men were confused. From Emery’s actions, the boy should’ve been dead a long time ago.

It seemed that everywhere Emery went, the boss went, too—like a shadow or a growling guard dog. Emery never seemed to notice Matthew’s behavior at all.

The truth was, Matthew quite liked his little assistant. Matthew had lived his whole life believing that all humans were cruel and disgusting creatures, only caring about themselves. Yet Emery was so gentle and sweet—something that was made to be protected.

Matthew’s favorite nights were the ones spent late at night in his office with Emery quietly humming a pretty melody as he stitched up Matthew’s wounds. Emery always looked worried whenever the boss came back from his missions, no matter how many times he saw Matthew injured.

But, Matthew had absolutely no idea about Emery’s child—Emery didn’t want Hayes involved in such a perilous business.

Four months into working as Matthew’s assistant, Emery made his biggest mistake yet.

Emery was driving through the underground parking of HQ, a little delirious from the lack of sleep the night before. While he started to back out without looking, he ended up hitting Matthew’s car—his prized possession.

The single father gasped, suddenly very awake. He quickly got out of his car to find Matthew already standing outside, glaring down at the scratch on his black Mercedes-Benz.

“Oh no. Mr. Blaine, please don’t fire me; I need this job. I’ll do anything to keep it.” Emery begged, anxiety and guilt flowing through him in sharp waves. His little hands were shaking.

Matthew looked over at Emery with an indifferent look, gently sliding his hands into his pockets as he turned to face his assistant.

“Anything?” Matthew grunted deeply.

Emery nodded. He was willing to do whatever it took to keep his job as Matthew’s assistant. He needed the money to take care of Hayes.

Mr. Blaine hummed in approval.

“Marry me.” Matthew grumbled roughly, his fave serious and void of emotion.