Chapter 1
Aeliana Lucienne Devereux
“Some flowers are protected so fiercely they never learn storms exist.”
At twenty-two, Aeliana Devereux has spent her life wrapped in elegance and innocence.
With platinum curls, amber eyes, honey-brown skin, and a wardrobe of flowing dresses, she looks like she’s stepped out of a Renaissance painting.
Gentle, endlessly curious, and incapable of hiding what she feels, she sees kindness where others see danger.
Gifted with languages and an uncanny ability to read emotions, Aeliana notices hearts before threats—a beautiful strength that may also be her greatest weakness.
Zane Toren Moretti
“The most dangerous men don’t raise their voices—they lower them.”
Zane Moretti is a man who built an empire on discipline, calculation, and fear.
Standing at 6′4" with hunter-grey eyes, black hair, and scars that speak louder than words, he commands every room without needing to shout.
He trusts almost no one, sleeps little, and never stops watching the exits.
Beneath the ruthless Mafia Don is a man shaped by a childhood lesson he was never meant to survive: never love loudly.
Ariena Areli Devereux
“Control became love’s sharpest disguise.”
Ariena Devereux is elegance wrapped around danger.
With emerald eyes, midnight-black hair, and a reputation as flawless as her tailored gowns, she carries herself like royalty with something to hide.
Brilliant, multilingual, and relentlessly composed, she believes power is the only thing capable of protecting the people she loves.
Every decision she makes follows rules of her own creation—and every secret she keeps comes from a fear she refuses to let anyone see, especially her little sister.
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A/N:
I just want to let you guys know that Aeliana is a naive woman.
She doesn’t know vulgar language, sex (in detail), and so forth. She has been sheltered her whole life, only told to watch or listen to certain things. She only knows of orchestral music and musical shows.
None of what Gen Z today listens to and watches.
She’s also soft-spoken, clumsy, awkward, and always nervous.
She also doesn’t know of particular things like ‘wages’, and so forth (will be mentioned in the book).
She knows of violence because when she was young, she witnessed her older sister shooting a man in their father’s office, and since it was a traumatic experience, she slightly forgot about it and never spoke of it again; she also knows when to keep quiet and sense danger if she feels threatened.
She’s like a 6-year-old toddler in a 22-year-old body, through and through. (sighs, poor her; she doesn’t know how cruel the world is yet.)
I WILL NOT TOLERATE HATE TOWARDS HER. SHE'S MY FLUTTER-SHY IN THIS CRUEL WORLD, AND I LOVE WRITING ABT HER AND HER JOURNEY THROUGH SOCIETY.
READ THE WARNINGS BEFORE PROCEEDING!
