LOGIN(Adraino pov)
I stared down at her sleeping face, so innocent, so peaceful, with those soft lashes brushing her cheeks and her lips slightly parted in quiet breaths. My hardened, ruthless heart softened, just a fraction, from the moment I spotted her at the bar, I had knew she was special and different, pure light in my endless night, and I wasn't letting her go, not ever.
But the fear of her finding out who I really am, the Mafia Don who ruled this city with an iron fist, enemies trembled at my name. Rivals begged for mercy I rarely gave. They called me the Devil, and for good reason. Blood stained my hands, deals sealed in shadows, power built on fear and bullets. She could never know. Not yet.
My phone vibrated sharply on the nightstand, shattering the silence. I snatched it up, my expression hardening instantly as I saw the caller, I answered on the second ring, my voice low.
“Talk.”
“East warehouse,” Roman said, breath tight. “We’ve got a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
“Shipment’s compromised.”
My eyes lifted slowly from her sleeping form. “Define compromised.”
“Security’s down. Cameras went dead ten minutes ago. Guards aren’t responding."
“Who hit it?” I asked.
“We don’t know yet.”
“You don’t know?” My tone dropped. “Or you haven’t looked hard enough?”
“We’re still pulling feeds from nearby blocks—”
“Stop talking,” I cut in. “Are you there?”
“Two minutes out.”
“Good,” I said, already reaching for my jacket. “Stay outside. No one goes in until I get there.”
“Yes, boss.”
I ended the call, for a second, I didn’t move, "Damn it," I muttered under my breath. I glanced back at her one last time, memorizing the curve of her face, then leaned down and pressed a feather-light kiss to her forehead.
"Sleep, pajarito I will be back before you wake."
I moved like a ghost, grabbing my jacket and signaling my men waiting in the hall. Within seconds, they were armed, each one with a sleek black gun holstered or gripped tight.
“Boss all set,” Marco said as I stepped outside.
“How many?” I asked.
“Six cars. Full crew.”
“Good,” I replied. “We go in, we secure the shipment, we get out.”
“You think it’s a hit?” Luca asked as I got into the SUV, engines roared to life, and the convoy sped through the rainy city streets toward the warehouse district. I sat in the lead SUV, jaw clenched, fingers drumming on my knee.
"How bad?" I asked my right-hand man, Luca, without looking away from the window.
"Bad, boss. Looks like a setup. Shipment's hot, automatic rifles, enough to arm a small army. If we lose it..."
“I think someone wants my attention,” I said.
“And you’re giving it to them,” Marco muttered.
I glanced at him. “That’s how you find out who’s stupid enough to ask for it.”
We pulled up to the warehouse under cover of night. The air was thick with tension. No lights. . My instincts screamed trap, but the shipment was too valuable to abandon. We moved in formation, guns drawn, shadows blending with the crates stacked high inside
“Where the hell is everyone?”
“Stay sharp,” I said as I stepped out. “No one spreads out. We move together.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Doors are unlocked,” Luca said.
“That’s not a good sign,”
Then all hell broke loose. Gunfire erupted from multiple directions, ambush. Police sirens wailed in the distance, but these weren't just cops. Special teams poured in, backed by what looked like rival informants. Bullets ricocheted off metal, shattering glass and wood. My men returned fire with precision, but they were outnumbered.
"Cover the exit!" I barked, my own gun blazing as I dropped two officers with clean shots. Blood sprayed. Chaos reigned. I spotted Luca pinned down behind a crate. Without hesitation, I charged forward, laying suppressive fire, grabbing my lieutenant by the collar and shoving him toward the back door.
"Get the others out! Now! I'll hold them!"
"Boss, no—"
"Go!" My roar cut through the noise. I protected my crew one by one, taking hits that grazed my arm and side, but never faltering. My men escaped into the night, vanishing like smoke.
Alone now, surrounded, I lowered my weapon slowly as officers closed in, rifles trained on my chest. I locked eyes with the lead detective, a smug bastard who'd clearly orchestrated the tip-off, the one who'd tricked us here.
"You think this ends me?" I asked ,voice low and lethal, even as cuffs clicked around my wrists. Blood trickled from a cut on my lip. "I will wipe out your entire family from the face of the earth, every last one, slowly, you will beg for death before I'm done."
The detective smirked, but there was a flicker of fear in his eyes. "Big words for a man in cuffs, Devil."
I just smiled a cold, promise-filled grin as they dragged me away. "Count the days."
Hours later, in the cold interrogation room, I sat chained to the table, my expensive suit torn and stained, the detective paced, slamming files down.
"We got you this time, Adraino Rossi. Gun trafficking, assault on officers, ties to half a dozen murders. You're done."
I leaned back, unfazed, my dark eyes piercing. "Am I? You have nothing but a setup, my lawyers will have me out by morning. And you... you just signed your death warrant."
The detective laughed nervously. "Keep talking. We raided three more of your spots tonight."
My phone had been taken, but I knew my empire was already moving. Loyal men on the outside, contingencies in place. But my mind drifted back to her, the girl sleeping safely in my bed, she couldn't know about this, not the arrest, not the blood.
"You think fear will break me?" I said quietly, almost to myself. "I've built my life on it."
The detective leaned in close. "Who was the girl at the bar? The one you were talking to? We know about her now."
My eyes flashed with pure rage. I lunged forward as far as the chains allowed, my voice a deadly whisper: "Touch one hair on her head, and I'll burn this city down with you in it. That's not a threat. That's a vow."
The room fell silent. Even the cops shifted uncomfortably, I settled back, heart still soft for her, but the Devil fully
awake now, they just threatened her, I would get out, I would protect her, and I would make them all pay.
(Adriano Pov)Yes.One simple word, yet somehow it hit harder than gunfire ever had, for several seconds I could only stare at her.Melissa looked back at me calmly, completely unaware that she had just altered the course of my entire life with one quiet answer.Yes.Not hesitant, not afraid, not conditional, just certain, the terrifying thing was how badly I wanted to believe her, how desperately some ruined part of me wanted to hold onto that single word and build an entire future around it.A future, again that impossible thought, I brushed my thumb slowly against her cheek while my mind struggled between instinct and emotion, instinct told me love was weakness, emotion told me she was becoming the only thing keeping me human which was a dangerous combination.“You shouldn’t say things like that so easily,” I murmured quietly.Melissa frowned immediately.“I wasn’t lying.”“I know.”That was the problem, she meant every word and somehow that terrified me more than manipulation ever
(Melissa pov)For a moment I simply stared at him, the room felt too quiet, Adriano’s question lingered between us like something fragile and dangerous at the same time, would you still choose me anyway?The strange thing was that he sounded almost afraid asking it, not physically afraid but emotionally and that honestly shocked me more than anything else, because Adriano Rossi feared almost nothing.Yet right now, sitting beside me in the dim light of the bedroom with tension visible in his eyes, he looked like a man waiting for a verdict capable of destroying him, my chest tightened painfully at the sight.“Why are you asking me that?” I whispered softly.He didn’t answer immediately, Adriano always carried silence like armor whenever something mattered too much, I studied him carefully while trying to understand what exactly was happening inside his head tonight.Something felt different, Like he was carrying a decision he didn’t know how to make.“You’ve been distant since earlier
(Adriano Pov)The mansion was finally quiet again.Melissa’s friends had left hours ago after turning half the house upside down with laughter, questions, stolen desserts from the kitchen, and enough noise to confuse my guards into believing an actual attack was happening at one point.Now silence had returned, but unlike before Melissa entered my life, the silence no longer felt peaceful, It felt temporary, like the calm before something terrible.I stood alone inside my office staring out through the massive glass windows overlooking the city while rain continued falling steadily across the streets below.Somewhere upstairs, Melissa was sleeping, completely unaware that her father had returned from the dead.Completely unaware that powerful men were preparing wars around her existence, completely unaware that every decision I made now could either protect her or destroy her, I loosened my tie slowly before sitting down heavily against the leather chair behind the desk.For the first
(Adriano pov)Nobody in the room moved, nobody breathed too loudly, the moment the name Salvatore Moretti entered the conversation, the atmosphere inside the meeting room changed completely, fear existed in every criminal empire, but there were certain men whose names carried something worse than fear.Legend.Salvatore Moretti was one of those men and right now, one of the most dangerous ghosts in organized crime history was speaking directly into my ear.“You’ve been difficult to reach,” I said calmly while keeping my expression unreadable.Across the room, Luca stared at me carefully while the others remained frozen in complete silence.“You’re not as invisible as you think, Adriano Rossi,” the older man replied.His voice sounded controlled, intelligent, experienced, not loud, men like him never needed to raise their voices, power already spoke for them.“I assume this call isn’t social.”A low chuckle echoed through the phone.“No. This is about my daughter.”There it was again,
(Adriano Pov)The meeting room inside the eastern wing was silent except for the sound of rain striking against the tall windows, I stood near the table reading documents Luca had placed in front of me while several men waited quietly around the room for instructions.No one spoke carelessly in rooms like this, not when tension was already hanging heavily in the air, not when war was slowly approaching, Luca leaned back against the chair with exhaustion written across his face while another man projected surveillance photographs onto the large screen mounted on the wall.Photographs of Melissa, leaving class, entering cafes, walking across campus laughing with her friends completely unaware that powerful men were discussing her existence like the center of an international conflict, rage simmered low inside my chest again.One of Romano’s captains had been caught two hours ago carrying more photographs in his car, Melissa from different angles, different days, different locations, the
(Melissa Pov)The second Zara recovered from the shock of openly flirting with Adriano Rossi and surviving, her confidence returned at full force, which immediately became a problem for me because Zara with confidence was one of the most uncontrollable human beings on earth.Emily still looked nervous standing beside the entrance while Chloe stared around the mansion with open fascination like she had accidentally walked into the set of a crime movie instead of a real house where actual dangerous men lived and carried loaded guns.Meanwhile, Adriano remained standing beside me with one hand resting casually inside his pocket while several guards lingered quietly in the background pretending not to listen even though they were very clearly listening to everything.Zara looked Adriano up and down dramatically before placing a hand over her chest.“Okay, Melissa, I officially forgive you for disappearing because now I understand why.”I closed my eyes immediately.“Please don’t start.”“
(Melissa pov)The most dangerous thing about Adriano Rossi was not his reputation, not the fear people carried when they heard his name or even the whispers about blood, violence, power, or death, It was how easily he made darkness feel safe.And somewhere along the way, without realizing it, I had
(Melissa pov)I heard the shower running before I reached his room a steady, heavy rush of water that felt too deliberate tonight, like he was trying to scrub away something darker than dirt or blood.I stood outside the door, heart hammering, I told myself I was only checking on him. That was all,
(Adraino pov)The basement smelled of old blood, stale sweat, and the metallic tang of terror that had soaked into the concrete over decades. It was a stench that never truly left, no matter how many times the floors were hosed down. This place remembered every man who had broken here. It carried t
(Adraino pov)“Boss, the port confirmed the shipment arrived an hour ago.”I looked up from the back seat of the SUV, my fingers tapping once against the leather armrest as Luca sat across from me with a tablet in his hand and three other vehicles followed closely behind us through the dark highway







