“This will not happen.”

Your voice slipped out sharp, slicing through the heavy silence of your father’s office. It was the first time you had ever dared to answer back no, to openly defy his orders.

He slowly lifted his head from behind the desk, his gaze settling on you like knives. The look of a Vitagliano leader. Those eyes alone were enough to dry your throat and stiffen your limbs. Normally, you would have lowered your gaze immediately, swallowed your protest as you always did but this time, you didn’t. Because what he had just announced was paralyzing.

He said it in a tone that allowed no discussion. “You have no say in this. The contract is done, and the wedding is in two weeks.”

The room spun around you. Your tongue tied itself in knots, words freezing in your chest. Defiance was never an option you were the leader’s daughter, and the leader is never opposed, not even by his own blood. But to seal your fate in marriage to Enrico de Castella? That alone was enough to make the blood drain from your veins.

You hadn’t chosen to be born into a family with blood on its hands. And yet, the blood in your veins betrayed your belonging to the mafia. All you had ever wanted was a quiet life to be seen without fear, without your family name arriving before you did. You wanted to escape this hell. But a single contract tightened around your neck, suffocating you, burying the last remnants of hope.

The name De Castella alone was enough to make you tremble. Naples where no one dared approach them, and anyone who did might as well dig their own grave. You knew enough to understand the danger of their clan, and in just two weeks, your name would be bound to theirs the wife of their leader.

Everything happened terrifyingly fast. So fast that the engagement party was held that very night. Your room buzzed with your mother and the women of the family, each busy with a detail: the dress, your hair, the jewelry. And you? You were frozen a doll being carefully prepared to be presented to the beast.

You stared at your reflection in the mirror. A black dress, an impeccable hairstyle. A necklace gleaming around your neck. You were stunning… but in a beauty that didn’t feel like you. Black had never been your favorite color to begin with.

You didn’t know why your heart was pounding so violently. Was it fear? Or the awe of the man who would take your hand and place the ring on your finger? You barely lifted your head toward him. You didn’t say a word and neither did he. That silence made you grateful… and confused at the same time. Grateful that he didn’t try to break the distance, and confused because the thought crept into your mind that maybe he didn’t want you at all just the deal.

Avoiding any potential conversation with your fiancé, you found yourself standing by the dining table, filling your plate. Your family’s mansion was crowded with faces some familiar, some not. Men and women from the De Castella clan. Faces that were terrifying, even to the daughter of a mafia leader.

Your mouth was full when your eyes finally landed on him. Enrico. You saw him heading toward the garden, phone in hand, making a call. You couldn’t deny his handsomeness. In fact, his appearance made him seem… calmer than you had expected. If you had passed him on the street, it would never have crossed your mind that he was the leader of the most powerful clan in Naples. And maybe just maybe that small detail was enough to ease a fraction of your fear.

Suddenly, you felt the plate being pulled from your hands. Before you could process what was happening, your mother was gently firmly pushing you toward the door leading to the garden, your cheeks puffed from food, your steps unsteady, as she whispered a warning that allowed no refusal

“Go and introduce yourself to him… or I’ll tell your father.”

You stood there alone. The sound of your heels against the ground caught his attention. He turned his head toward you slowly, slipping one hand into his jacket pocket, the other still holding the phone.