Prologue
Book two
Beneath the glittering façade of New York City, where the skyline pierced the heavens and the streets never slept, another world thrived, a world of power, betrayal, and blood.
The two most feared mafia families, the De Romano and the Lombardi, ruled this dark underworld, their influence reaching far beyond what the public eye could see.
The name De Romano invoked fear, while the Lombardi name was whispered with reverence. Both families were bound by legacy and torn apart by decades of vendettas, that had simmered for generations.
In this world, love was a dangerous game, and loyalty could turn to poison in an instant.
Madeline Lombardi, daughter of the formidable Vincenzo Lombardi, had always navigated the fine line between loyalty and rebellion, love and survival.
She had grown up surrounded by power and violence, but her heart had sought something softer, something that could pull her from the shadows.
For a brief, intoxicating moment, she found that light in Luca De Romano, the ruthless leader of the De Romano family, after their arranged marriage for a secret alliance.
Despite his cold reputation, she had glimpsed the man hidden beneath the darkness, a man who longed for something more than just bloodshed and vengeance.
But that love had come at a price.
She had been trapped between two worlds, caught in the crossfire between her love for her father, finally stepping down his darkened position and her undeniable pull toward Luca.
The tension had always simmered, but it was only after witnessing Luca’s true nature, the monster lurking beneath his charm, that her fear truly took hold.
Her heart had once believed there was light in him, something redeemable amidst the darkness. But now, after seeing the depth of his ruthlessness, the way power consumed him, her fear eclipsed her love.
Luca was no longer just a man she cared for, he was a force capable of destruction. The dangerous allure that had once drawn her to him had become a nightmare she couldn’t escape.
So she escaped.
Madeline had booked her flight back to Vienna, determined to return to the only place that had ever felt like hers, her life with Ben, her boss and best friend, far from the dangerous men who ruled her existence. A life of normalcy and in her own control. But something had stopped her, before take off.
A message. A glimmer of hope she couldn’t ignore.
Please. I’m outside. Please, principessa. — Luca
It had been Luca. Or so she thought. His name, his words, his promise had lured her away from the airport, her heart still aching for the man who had once whispered promises of safety and love. The man she had loved despite his darkness and her own fears from his torment.
But that message had been a lie. She had fallen straight into their trap.
Her captors, Giovanni Machiavelli and Stefano Bianchi, enemies from her family’s bloody past, had been waiting. Waiting to exploit her vulnerability, her hope, her love for Luca.
She had been taken, pulled into the depths of a nightmare, where every moment was laced with cruelty and pain. They had used Luca’s name to shatter her last chance at freedom, pulling her away from Vienna, from her new life, and straight into a darkened nightmare.
And while she suffered, the men who claimed to love her, Luca and Vincenzo, were locked in their own war of guilt, rage and old grudges that strained their alliance.
Can Luca find her before it is too late? Will anyone notice she had been taken, before she took her last breath?
