Can a heart learn more than just violence? Enzo is "the Martinelli," the head of the Martinelli family drug empire. He has known very little softness in his life, only the love of his younger brother and his niece. But when fate leads him to rescue a brutalized young man, he finds he cannot let the young man go without trying to help him. It's his chance to do something good for someone who desperately deserves it, a distraction from the mafia life or murder and intrigue. But he wishes the submissive young man would quit fawning and calling him "master." While he'd love to take the young man up on his sexual offers, Enzo's tastes run to the darker side, and that's the last thing the young man needs. Chase Connors hasn't known love in a long time, maybe not ever. As a slave to a sadistic master, he's learned to get what he needs with sex. He doesn't understand why this new "master" has been so generous-bringing him to live at Tanglewood, his vast family estate, sending him to college, and showing him affection-when to everyone else he's hard and distant. The only way Chase knows to thank him is with his body-but Enzo appears to be straight, if his pregnant girl friend is any indication. But when Chase sees Enzo kissing another man, he knows he has a chance to win over the dominant Enzo. Seeing his chance, he stalks Enzo on his own turf-a nightclub called Dark Whispers-and gives Enzo a show he simply cannot refuse. Until someone else comes gunning for the Martinelli, and a horrible explosion destroys everything...