In the heart of the Italian countryside, childhood soulmates Luca and Aria are torn apart when Luca vanishes after his father's murder, swept into the ruthless De Rossi mafia empire. Years later, their worlds collide again when Aria is traded by her father and stepmother to the ruthless mafia lord, Luca De Rossi, to repay her family's debt. Once childhood best friends, but not just strangers, Luca wasn’t the small, always-smiling boy she knew, but the cold, powerful European mafia lord. Fueled by betrayal and grief over her stepbrother’s death at Luca’s hands, Aria vows to escape. But as buried truths come to light about Marco’s betrayal and Luca’s hidden sacrifices. Aria’s hatred begins to crack. When a rival mafia targets her to get to Luca, their love is tested by fire. Ultimately, Luca offers her freedom or the chance to stand beside him as an equal. What do you think she will choose? Freedom or love? ******** Her father signed the papers. A signature, and she was sold. "You belong to me now," Luca said, his voice like smoke as he reached for her wrist. She slapped him. "You're a monster." "No," he said. "I'm what the world made me. And your father? he gave you to me." The car that drove her away was sleek and silent. She stared out the window, numb, her chest cracking open with every mile that took her further from home. Her childhood love had returned not as a savior, but as her captor. She was taken to his estate outside Florence, a fortress of cold luxury and impersonal grandeur. Servants bowed. Cameras blinked. Every step she took echoed in a place too large and too silent. That night, he brought her a dress. "Wear this," he said, tossing the delicate silk onto her bed. "Dinner is in twenty minutes."

I watch him in awe as he leans in to kiss me, the space between us charged like static. "What's wrong with you, Andrew?" I whisper, my voice trembling, not from fear, but from everything else. He stops, inches from my lips, eyes locked on mine. "Nothing," he says softly. "That's the problem. For once, nothing feels wrong at all." And then he kisses me, slow, certain, like he’s waited years for this moment. I couldn’t ignore the wetness between my thighs. Yes, he is my romantic interest, one I fear might lead me to a horrific ending. ************** I am Sheila Anderson, and I never planned on crossing a line, especially not this line. But when Andrew Walsh shows up at his welcome party in LA, all grown up and dangerously confident, the boy I once babysat is now the man I can’t look away from. He’s Ava’s little brother. Off-limits. Untouchable. So why does he look at me like I’m the only thing he’s ever wanted? What begins with stolen glances and breathless touches turns into something far riskier: feelings neither of us can ignore. And when the secret starts to unravel, I have to choose to play it safe or finally give in to everything I have been trying to resist.