Chapter 1

Alessia

“Are you sure about this, Alessia? We can still go back if you’re getting cold feet,” Livia whispers beside me.

I turn and glare at her. “We agreed on this before we even left the house. If you’re scared, you can go back.”

Her eyes widen as she looks at the club entrance. Then a grin slowly spreads across her face. “No way. Let’s do it, girl. I’ve been waiting for a night like this.”

I roll my eyes, but a small smile pulls at my lips. Tonight, I’m not Leonardo Rossini’s perfect daughter expected to obey every order. Tonight, I’m just Alessia, a normal girl at a club, ready to drink until she forgets the pain. Even if it only lasts for one night.

I know my father will be furious when he finds out. But right now, I don’t care. Not when my heart is already shattered and can barely breathe without thinking about everything I’ve lost. Tonight, I just want to forget.

The two guards outside barely glance at us before pushing the doors open. Music hits me immediately, loud and wild, almost deafening. I step inside with Livia close behind me, my heels clicking against the floor.

For one second, I hesitate. ‘This is a huge mistake.’ I ignore the voice in my head.

Being the only daughter of Leonardo Rossini, the head of one of the most powerful Mafia families in Italy, sounds glamorous to outsiders. 

It means never being free. There is always someone watching me. When I laugh, cry or when I leave my room. Sometimes, it feels like they even watch me breathe.

I hate living like a prisoner dressed in expensive clothes.

I glance around the club. Dim lights flash across the crowded room, and smoke hangs in the air. Women dance beneath the colored lights while men sit around tables, drinking expensive alcohol and smoking cigars. 

The music is so loud it drowns out every thought in my head.

Good.

That’s exactly what I need.

I walk straight to the bar. The waiter looks at me, and I point at the bottles. He understands immediately. A moment later, a bottle and two glasses are right in front of us.

Livia twists open the bottle and pours. Her hands tremble slightly as she looks around. “We could still drink this somewhere else. What if someone recognizes you?”

I laugh. “No one will recognize me, Livi.” I pick up my glass and take a slow sip. The alcohol burns down my throat, and I welcome it. “My father has kept me hidden my entire life. Nobody even knows what I look like.”

Livia sighs. “I think he’s trying to protect you from his world.”

“Protect me?” I scoff. “He’s not protecting me. He’s hiding me. Like I’m some secret he’s ashamed of.”

Livia goes quiet. She just looks at me, and I hate that look.

Pity.

Everyone looks at me that way.

I swallow hard and force down the lump in my throat. Tonight, I don’t want pity. I don’t want to think about my father or my family, and I definitely don’t want to think about Marco.

But the moment his name crosses my mind, the pain comes rushing back.

My ex-boyfriend. The man I thought loved me and I would spend my life with.

I was wrong.

He chose another woman. And before he walked away, he made sure to destroy whatever was left of my heart.

‘I never felt anything for you.’

His words still echo in my head. My fingers tighten around the glass.

“He never loved me,” I whisper.

Livia hears me and reaches for my hand, but before she can say anything, another memory hits me.

“My father announces that in two days, I’m getting married.”

Not because I want to, but because my father decided it was necessary.

Livia watches me carefully. “Alessia, your father thinks he’s doing what’s best for you.”

I laugh bitterly. 

“You know he was never going to accept Marco.” She continues. 

“I know. In our world, love doesn’t matter.” My voice cracks. “Everything is business.”

Livia says nothing because she knows I’m right.

My father isn’t marrying me off because he cares about my happiness, but because he wants an alliance with Vincenzo Moretti. A powerful, dangerous man. A man whose family could become one of our strongest allies against our enemies.

And I am the price.

“As long as I become Vincenzo’s loyal wife, my father gets what he wants.” I stare at the golden liquid in my glass. “More territory, power and protection.”

My fingers tremble. “And what do I get?” I look at Livia. “A life I never chose.”

She looks away, that hurts more than anything.

I reach for my drink, but she tries to stop me. “Alessia, maybe you should slow down.”

I pull the glass away. “I don’t want to.”

I drain it in one swallow. The alcohol burns. I pour another, then another. I stop counting after the fifth glass.

The pain in my chest slowly fades. My body relaxes. For the first time in days, I can breathe without feeling like I’m about to fall apart.

Maybe this is what freedom feels like.

Temporary. Reckless. Stupid.

As I take another drink, the room begins to sway. The lights blur. The music pounds through my body, matching the wild rhythm of my heartbeat. Everything feels distant and slow.

Then something catches my attention.

Across the club, a man sits alone.

His back is turned toward me. Broad shoulders. Dark clothes. A stillness that somehow makes him stand out in a room full of noise.

I stare at him, I don’t know why, maybe he senses it because, suddenly, he turns and our eyes meet.

Everything inside me stops, his eyes are dark, cold and dangerous. But I can’t look away.

A strange shiver runs down my spine. My heart skips, and I swallow hard.

Who is he? But something about him pulls me in. Maybe it’s the alcohol or the heartbreak. Maybe it’s the fact that, for the first time in my life, I want to do something simply because I want to.

Whatever it is, I will stop fighting it.

I push away from the bar too quickly.

The floor tilts beneath my heels, and I stumble. Livia grabs my arm.

“Alessia!”

“I’m fine.” I pull away from her quickly. 

My eyes didn't leave the stranger and he's still watching me.

My heart pounds harder as I take one step.

Then another.

Every sensible part of me screams to turn around, but instead, I walk toward him.

Tonight, I don’t want to be Leonardo Rossini’s perfect daughter.

Tonight, I want to be reckless.

And that stranger looks like exactly the kind of mistake I need.