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Chapter 1

MAYA

I cracked my neck slowly and stared at the final line of code glowing on my screen like it was the gates of heaven.

Done.

Finally… done!

A tired laugh slipped out of me as I pushed my oversized glasses up my nose. My reflection stared back from the darkened monitor.

My pale face dusted with freckles, huge green eyes that people always said looked “too deep for comfort,” messy black hair with the stupid red streaks I’d impulsively dyed last month because sleep deprivation makes you bold and slightly insane.

Or maybe I was always slightly insane.

Three months.

Three months of barely eating and sleeping, surviving on caffeine, stubbornness and Luca’s late-night voice notes telling me I was his genius girl.

And now…

I had created ATHENA-X.

An adaptive mafia intelligence architecture capable of predicting financial shifts, tracking rival movements, securing encrypted communication networks and automating strategic defense patterns.

In simple terms, it was a digital war goddess that could make an empire untouchable and I had built her for him.

“For your birthday…” I murmured softly, reaching for the sleek black data core resting beside my keyboard.

It looked harmless, small and elegant but inside it was enough power to crown a king.

Carefully, I slid it into the velvet-lined gift box I had prepared earlier. My fingers lingered on the lid before I shut it and a strange warmth spread through my chest.

Luca would love this.

He had to.

This would finally silence his cousins, his uncles and those old wolves who kept saying he wasn’t ruthless enough to lead the Rossi Family.

With ATHENA-X, he wouldn’t just be ruthless, he would be inevitable and when he rose, he would finally stop hiding me.

My lips curved faintly as I imagined him announcing me as the future Donna of the Rossi Family.

Honestly, I didn’t give half a damn about the title or the empire. Let them keep their blood money and smoky meetings. I just wanted Luca. The boy who had held my hand when my mother forgot my birthday. The boy who smuggled snacks into my room when my sister told me to “stop being weird and act normal.”

He had always chosen me and tonight… I wanted to choose him back.

I grabbed my phone and dialed Luca, heart doing that silly flutter it always did when his name lit up the screen.

It rang and rang then went straight to voicemail. I frowned, checking the time. His birthday was basically here, midnight was in less than an hour and I’d poured everything into this surprise.

He's probably somewhere dramatic and surrounded by chaos like he always was or he's with family.

A familiar, irritating knot twisted in my stomach.

We had agreed that no exposure yet. Not until he secured his position as heir.

Technically, he was my stepbrother.

Well… step-something.

My mother had married Matteo Rossi, the youngest son of the Rossi dynasty. Luca’s father was Lorenzo Rossi, the eldest son and the Boss. The Devil in tailored suits.

Luca and I shared no blood ties, just complicated dinners and even more complicated secrets.

I sighed and rubbed my temple.

Fine.

If he wouldn’t answer, I would find him.

My fingers moved automatically across the screen. Code windows opened and a secure interface bloomed alive. Within seconds, a blinking dot appeared on the digital map.

There you are.

For safety reasons and because loving a mafia heir meant constantly expecting bullets, I had implanted a microscopic tracking chip into Luca months ago.

He had never known and I had never intended to use it like this.

My eyes softened.

“Happy birthday, stalker victim,” I muttered.

The location made me blink, he was in the small apartment at the edge of the city.

Shrugging, I grabbed the tiny cake I had baked earlier that looks slightly crooked, heavily chocolate and emotionally sincere. Then my phone and then the gift.

The Rossi estate was huge and paranoid, but I knew every camera blind spot by heart. Twenty minutes later I was pulling up to the quiet little apartment building on the edge of the city, the one Luca sometimes used when he wanted to get away from the noise of the family compound.

My stomach flipped with nervous happiness as I climbed the stairs, cake and gift held carefully so nothing would smudge.

The moment I stepped inside, the air felt different with something I couldn’t name right away. I closed the door softly behind me and started up the narrow staircase to the loft bedroom.

That’s when the sounds hit me, a low, rhythmic moaning, the sharp crack of skin meeting skin, wet slaps, breathless gasps that definitely weren’t coming from a movie.

I stopped mid-step, cheeks burning. Great. Luca’s idiot friends must have crashed his pre-birthday thing and decided to turn it into one of their usual chaotic nights.

I wasn’t a virgin, but I still didn’t want to walk in on a bunch of naked bodies going at it like animals. I pulled my phone out again and called Luca, whispering under my breath,

“Pick up, you crazy man, I don’t wanna see your friends’ dicks swinging around.”

His ringtone echoed faintly from upstairs. I sighed, rolling my eyes so hard it almost hurt.

He was probably sprawled in that big leather chair in the corner, watching the show like the weird voyeur he sometimes turned into when he’d had a few drinks.

I’d scolded him about that fetish a dozen times, told him it was gross and unnecessary but he always laughed it off and promised he’d stop.

Fine. I’d march up there, drag him out by the ear, and make him blow out his candles like a normal boyfriend. I climbed the last few steps, pushed the half-open door with my shoulder, and stepped inside.

Everything inside me shattered at once as my brain registered the scene in front of me.

Luca was on the bed, wrists and ankles tied to the four posts with black silk ropes, his muscular body stretched out and glistening with sweat.

His head was thrown back against the pillows, mouth open on a deep groan, hips jerking up helplessly and riding him hard was my sister, Lucy.

I'll recognise her and her phoenix tattoo anywhere!

Her long blonde hair stuck to her back, tits swaying with every slam of her hips, one hand braced on his chest while the other reached back to squeeze his balls.

She was moaning his name like she owned it,

“Fuck, Luca...yes, just like that, fill me up, baby,”

His cock disappeared inside her completely and I staggered but held myself up.

I couldn’t breathe. My glasses fogged at the edges from the sudden heat rushing to my face, as i watched my sister and Luca, my Luca, the only person who’d ever made me feel safe was buried balls-deep inside her, groaning her name, "Lucy... fuck, you feel so good.”

All I could do was stand there in the doorway, black-and-red streaked hair falling into my face, heart hammering so loud I was sure they’d hear it over the wet sounds of Lucy riding him, her moans turning into sharp little cries as she chased her orgasm.

I felt sick and furious and underneath it all, a quiet, sarcastic voice in my head whispered,

'Well, happy fucking birthday, Luca. Guess the gift I spent months on isn’t the only surprise tonight.'

Taking in a deep breath, i walked in, they still hadn’t seen me as they were too lost in each other.

Then suddenly Luca’s eyes met mine and his body froze. “Ma… Maya?” he said, voice rough.

Lucy didn’t stop right away. She kept grinding on him. “I told you to stop saying that bitch’s name when we’re fucking!” she snapped.

A broken laugh came out of me. It sounded crazy even to my own ears and that laugh made Lucy turn her head. Her eyes went wide when she saw me.

“What the fuck!” she screamed.

Before they could say anything else, I stepped closer. The cake was still in my hands. Pain burned in my chest, but something mean and wild took over.

I swung my arm and smashed the whole cake right into Lucy’s face. Frosting exploded everywhere. It covered her eyes, her mouth, even dripped down onto her tits and onto Luca’s chest while she was still sitting on his cock.

She shrieked and tried to wipe it off but I didn’t wait. I scraped the rest of the cake off my fingers and threw it straight at Luca’s face. Chocolate and icing splattered across his mouth and cheeks. Some even landed on the ropes.

“Happy fucking birthday, you piece of shit!” I yelled. My voice cracked, but I kept going. “Hope her cunt feels like home, because mine is closed forever, asshole! You two can fuck each other straight to hell!”