The Mafia’s possessive Obsession

Prologue

Dante

One year ago….

She lay in my arms, her body unnaturally still, as if time itself had frozen just for her. The warmth that used to radiate from her skin has faded, replaced by a coldness that seeped into my bones. Her eyes once the color of summer skies and full of mischief stared at me, their bright blue was now blank, empty, already existing somewhere I couldn't reach. I held her tighter, desperate to breathe in her scent one last time, that scent of lavender that used to wrap around me like a drug. But now, that scent has been corrupted by the smell of death

I brush my fingers through her damp hair. Lifting a wet strand, I searched desperately for any form of life, some sign that she was still there. Still mine. But what greets me is the furthest thing from death. No, it was worse.

It was silence. A nothingness worse than death.

Elena was gone. Dead. Stuck in a place where I didn't exist, a place where she had locked her soul completely out of my reach.

I stared at her lifeless body, committing every detail of her beautiful face to my memory before I could finally begin to accept that she was gone. I pressed her to me like I could somehow force her soul back into her body as if I could drag her back from the world where she now existed without me.

My jaw trembled as I swept her hair away from her face and planted a kiss on her forehead.

“I’m sorry I couldn't protect you, Amore mio.”