Chapter 1
Serafina plopped down on her bed beside her best friend, Julia, and released a heavy sigh. Servants had already carried all her birthday presents into the room and stacked them neatly on the padded bench against the wall. Her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins had all celebrated the big day with her. It had been a nice pool party and barbecue on the back patio with an actual DJ. She’d even been allowed to invite her friends from school.
She was finally eighteen. Serafina should’ve been ecstatic, but she’d never felt more disappointed in her life. Unless she counted every other time her father had failed to live up to her hopes and dreams.
Julia reached over and clasped her hand. “He was probably just busy, Sera.”
“Don’t do that,” Serafina said gently. “I don’t need you to make excuses for him. No one else bothers to. Not even him.”
Her friend nodded. “Hey, but the gift he got for you is pretty cool.“
“Yeah, so cool that I’m sure Nonna picked it out, bought it, wrapped it, and signed the card for him,” Serafina replied. Emitting a sound of disgust, she looked to the ceiling and shook her head. “You know, sometimes I wish they would’ve kept the truth from me the same way they kept it from everyone else. It couldn’t bother me if I didn’t know he was my father.”
Serafina had been the result of an attempted scam against her dad. To save him and the family from a messy scandal, everyone thought she was the daughter of her nonna’s step-niece, who’d died during childbirth in Italy.
No one outside of her and Julia’s families knew Sera was really the daughter of Alessandro Romano. She didn’t even have his last name, but that of her fake mother’s: Esposito.
“You don’t mean that,” Julia protested.
“Don’t I?” she countered, giving her friend an imploring look. “You know how I feel, the things I want. I’m fucked up in the head, Julia.”
“You’re really not, Serafina. Think about it,” Julia argued. “Your dad is so young, he’s only in his thirties and he’s fucking hot. I mean, like serious movie-star hot. Plus, you know… you’re desperate for his attention. So, of course, that’s going to develop into…”
Serafina arched a brow at her, waiting for her to finish. “I want to fuck my dad’s brains out, Julia. There’s no developing, just straight-up incestuous lust. You should turn me in.”
“To where? Mental institutions don’t even pay to commit people anymore. It wouldn’t be worth my time,” she replied. “Besides, if my dad looked like yours, I’d be lusting after him, too.”
Sera laughed and flopped onto her back. “I’m going to seduce him,” she confessed, feeling like she could share her plan now that she was of legal age. “At the Midsummer Masquerade.”
Julia was older than her by fifteen months, so she’d been able to attend the masquerade last July and had shared every dirty detail with Serafina the following day. The annual party was just an excuse for a bunch of wealthy adults to have orgies and fuck anyone and everyone at the party without any consequences because they were all wearing masks, which provided the perfect scapegoat of anonymity.
“He’s tough, Sera,” Julia cautioned. “He’s pretty much the trophy of the masquerade. Every woman there tries to hook up with him, but he’s extremely selective.”
“They don’t know him like I do,” Serafina said confidently.
Obsessive stalkers could take notes from her on how much she’d studied her father over the years.
“I just don’t want you to end up hurt or regretting it,” Julia said. “I’m not sure it’s going to get you the kind of response from your dad that you’re hoping for.”
Serafina wasn’t sure either, but she had to try. It wasn’t normal for girls to fantasize about their fathers in romantic, sexual ways, but she did.
He was so handsome, his body a living sculpture that would’ve tempted every last one of the Renaissance Masters into replicating it. He kept his black hair just long enough in a layered, tapered cut to show how it curled at the ends. And his eyes were fiery blue.
Julia was wrong that he looked like something as mundane as a movie star. Sera’s dad looked like an Italian Prince. But his charm was calculating, and his smile veiled a callous demeanor.
Everyone found him irresistible, even in business, because he had a natural allure that drew people in and made it difficult to tell him no. And when they did, they found out how ruthless he could be. Hostile takeovers were his favorite pastime, according to all the business journals and social media articles she’d read. He was very successful, yet it was more of a sport for him because God knew they didn’t need the money. The Romano family was already beyond wealthy.
Hence, the reason Serafina’s biological mother had targeted him. The Tavers family had been on the brink of losing everything, so they’d pressured their eighteen-year-old daughter into trapping a wealthy husband by getting knocked up.
Serafina’s parents had met while on holiday right after they’d both graduated from high school. Then, months later, Gina Tavers showed up on Alessandro’s doorstep, pregnant.
Unfortunately, she’d chosen the wrong man for her mark. The Romanos had smelled the scam from a mile away. As soon as a DNA test proved the baby was Alessandro’s, they’d crushed the Tavers, making sure they lost absolutely everything—including the newborn daughter Gina had named Rosalie.
Of course, her grandparents had swiftly changed her name to Serafina. Once they were able to somehow legally attach her identity to the deceased Esposito niece in Italy.
But they’d never kept any of it hidden from her. Serafina grew up calling her father by his first name or nickname, Alesso. Her family forbade her from ever referring to him as Dad, Papa, Father, or Daddy. Yet she knew all along he was her father.
The older she got, the more she began to wonder if maybe her craziness was genetic but feared it was all circumstantial. None of them had ever truly wanted her, not even her mom. She’d merely been the means to try and take her dad’s money. Was it any wonder he couldn’t be bothered with her?
Her grandparents, aunts, and uncles had grown fond of her since they’d been far more involved with her upbringing. But more than not, Serafina had been groomed to be the perfect socialite rather than raised in a loving home.
From a young age, they’d impressed upon her how important it was to be a rightful member of the most elite cliques in society. After all, her nonna’s family name, Esposito, held just as much prestige and clout in the old money circles as Romano.
Somewhere in her messed up brain, Sera knew she should feel more grateful than disappointed for all the opportunities she’d gotten. After all, her nonni could’ve just as easily left her with the Tavers in ruin rather than taking custody and giving her such an advanced life.
As it stood, Sera could go to any university in the world she wanted or ask her grandparents to help her find a suitable husband. She never had to work if she didn’t want to, nor would the family kick her out if she never married. Not many people could say that.
But did it honestly make her a spoiled brat to feel like her life was empty and unhappy without her father’s love and attention?
Maybe not, but Serafina knew she wanted more than that from him. She longed to give him her innocence and have him teach her all the ways of his desires.
So, perhaps the craziness was just hers, after all.
