

Three days before my due date, my husband came home and told me he was marrying Bianca Voss. “Her baby is due any day now,” Luca said. “If I marry her, I get the Don’s seat.” I stood there carrying his child and asked, “So you want me to spend the rest of my life as your hidden mistress?” He promised me doctors, guards, money, and a guarded house outside Chicago. He said I would still be his wife in private, as long as I never appeared in front of Bianca. When I refused, he looked at me with pity, as if I was too ordinary to understand the world he truly came from. He thought I was just Aria, the quiet woman who grew tomatoes by the lake. He had no idea I was Aria Castellano, the only daughter of the Chairman of the High Mafia Commission. I looked at him and whispered, “What if I told you Bianca’s family was nothing compared to mine?”

I had been in a secret relationship with my mafia boyfriend, Dante Castellano, for seven years. No public contact. No photos together. No proof I had ever stood by his side. He told me, "Once I'm powerful enough that no one dares touch you, I'll make it official." I believed him. The day before our seventh anniversary, I found a ten-carat diamond ring in his suit jacket. I cried with joy, thinking seven years of hiding were finally over. The next morning, I wore my most expensive dress and sprayed on the only perfume he had ever given me. I practiced my smile in the mirror, the one I would give when he proposed. Then, my phone lit up with a breaking news alert. [Breaking News: Seven-Year Love Story Reaches Perfect Ending—Romance Blogger Alessia Romano Accepts Boyfriend's 100th Proposal!] In the photo, the influencer with eight million followers stood on her tiptoes, kissing a man. His hand rested on the back of her neck. On that hand was a scar I would never mistake. It was the scar Dante got when he took a knife for me.

Nova wakes from her first wet dream to a nightmare—her boyfriend cheating with her bully. Then Andre, the mafia boy wearing scars and tenderness she’s never known, steps out of the shadows to save her—and claim her heart.

The second day after I was transferred back to Los Angeles, I ran into someone I used to know on a street corner. She stepped right in front of me, eyes going wide. “Mia? Mia Rossi? Why would you come back now? Dante's marrying Camille at the cathedral in a week.” Dante was my first love, and also the youngest heir to a mafia dynasty on this side of the Atlantic. He'd made me a promise once: that he'd make the entire Moretti family kneel and welcome me in. We had a deal: the day he officially took over as Don would be the day he married me. But his family had other plans. They arranged a match for him: Camille, a princess from one of Sicily's five great families. Pure bloodline, the genuine article. At first, Dante swore up and down she meant nothing to him. Less than nothing. Then I started noticing how he looked at her. Softer every time. Like he was falling. One night, riding home after a shift at the bar, Camille's car came out of nowhere and took me down. The gas tank caught, and half the block reeked of burning rubber and scorched metal. I was pinned under the wreckage, blood seeping from the back of my skull down my neck, warm at first, then cold. Dante was the first one there. He beat the ambulance. The first thing he did was walk past me. He crouched down, lifted Camille out of the passenger seat, and didn't look at me once, just dropped a few words over his shoulder: “I already called an ambulance. Hang tight. Camille's had too much to drink. I need to get her home.” That was the moment I was done with him. Completely, finally done. While he was gone, I discharged myself. I bought the farthest plane ticket I could find that same night and left without looking back. Five years passed. “Mia, you have no idea.” The woman grabbed my wrist, dropping her voice. “Dante spent years turning half of Europe upside down looking for you. You came back at the right time. He still keeps a seat for you every month on his birthday. Camille's too proud for a lot of things

Tommy, the ruthless second-in-command of a mafia family, crosses paths with Mathilda, a college student, sparking an unexpected connection. As secrets unfold and danger looms, their lives collide, forcing them to confront their pasts and the choices that will define their future.