Chapter 1: Taste of a stranger's lips

( Aria's point of view )

I never thought my freedom would be stolen by the kiss of a man.

I was in a ballroom attending a wedding. In this wedding was a gathering of elite people who looked like royalty but they had enough blood on their hands. To everyone else, I was Aria Valenti, the diamond of the Valenti family. They saw me as the silent, dutiful daughter. But to myself, I was a ghost halfway out the door.

My thigh holster pressed uncomfortably against my skin beneath the green gown I was wearing. I didn't care about the drinks or the noises the people made. My mind was on the encrypted drive hidden in my clutch, containing the last few thousand dollars I needed to disappear forever from this city I so much hated.

"Don't look so bored, Aria," my father, Lorenzo Valenti's voice came from beside me. He gripped my elbow just a little too hard. "Smile. We are here to show strength, not your teenage depression."

"I’m twenty-one, Father. And it’s hard to smile when I’m surrounded by people who would kill me for a seat at your table," I hissed while flashing a fake grin at a passing senator.

"That is the world you were born for," he replied with his eyes scanning the room. "I’m going to get a cigar. Stay in sight. If you disappear again, your friend Elena will find her flower shop burned to the ground by morning."

Typical Dad. The threat hit me like a blow. Elena was my only tie to the world of the living, the world I loved filled with people who didn't kill for a living. I watched my father walk away, my heart pounding heavily. I needed to find a way out but I was trapped by his words in a cage made of gold.

I went toward the balcony to get some air. That's when I saw Dante Moretti. The famous Dante Moretti.

He was standing near the staircase, looking like a god in a room of mere mortals. Handsome man, tall, with dark.

But something was off. I could tell with the way he was scanning the room with the panic look on his face.

Then I saw why.

A woman in a red dress was moving like a peacock toward him. She was so beautiful. This was Isabella, the woman who had famously broken Dante Moretti’s heart and leaked his family’s secrets to the feds two years ago.

The large room suddenly became a graveyard and people were expecting something to happen.

Dante Moretti, the heir to the Moretti empire, the rivals my father hated most, looked like he’d rather be facing a firing squad than Isabella. He looked around wildly then his eyes stopped when he saw me.

I shouldn't have made eye contact with him because in my world, eye contact is an invitation to war.

Before I could blink, he was moving. He moved through the crowd towards me like he was a predator until he was inches from me. The smell of tobacco came with him.

"Help me," he whispered with pain in his voice.

"What?" I started to say, but the word was cut off.

He grabbed my wrist and with a sudden, forceful tug, he pulled me and we were chest against chest.

I gasped with my hands instinctively finding his shoulders to push him away, but he was like a wall.

"Just two minutes," his breath touching my lips. "I’ll pay you... I'll pay you anything."

Then, he hurriedly kissed me like he was waiting to for decades. I never knew he had nothing left to lose. My first instinct was to reach for the knife on my thigh and gut him right there. I was a Valenti meaning nobody would dare touch me without my permission.

But as he was kissing me, i felt the sheer desperation in him. He wasn't trying to assault me, he was hiding behind me from the woman who wanted to destroy his pride.

I felt someone stop behind him. Isabella. I could practically hear her heart hardening.

"Dante?" she called angrily with disbelief. "What is this?"

Dante didn't pull away. Instead, he deepened the kiss, his hands rubbing my wrist and my back, pulling me so close I could feel my breasts on his body.

Slowly, I relaxed my hands on his shoulders. If I caused a scene, my father would come running, and a war would start in the middle of a wedding. If I played along, maybe I could use this Moretti brat for my own escape.

I kissed him back. A biting kiss. Then I was certain I was as dangerous as he was.

When he finally pulled away, he didn't let me go. He kept his arm rounded firmly around my waist, anchoring me to his side. He turned to Isabella, his face with arrogance in his face.

"Isabella," he said with a steady voice. "I didn't see you there. I was a bit... distracted."

Isabella’s face squeezed. Her eyes were placed suddenly on me, full of venom. "And who is this? Another one of your little flings to try and forget me?"

Dante gripped me tighter. I could tell he was flinching on the inside. I couldn't have that. If I was going to do this, I was going to win.

I leaned my head against Dante’s shoulder and looked Isabella up and down with the bored expression I’d spent years perfecting. "I’m the woman who replaced the girl you used to be," I said with a voice more poisonous than hers. "Dante doesn't talk about the past. He’s too busy enjoying the present."

Dante’s head sharply turn toward me with shock in his eyes. He hadn't expected me to speak or play along. Isabella looked like she wanted to slap me, but she couldn't, not with half the Mafia underworld watching. She turned and stormed away with her heels clicking on the marble floor.

"You can let go now," I said softly, trying to pull away from Dante's hold. "The show is over, Moretti."

"Wait," he whispered, his eyes on mine. "Who are you? I’ve never seen a girl fight like that with just words."

"I'm your worst nightmare," I said, finally breaking his grip. "And you owe me. You owe me big time."

I turned to leave, thinking the drama was finally over.

"Well, well," a voice resonated. "I leave my daughter alone for ten minutes and she finds herself in the arms of a Moretti."

I felt sick in the stomach.

My father was standing there with an unreadable face, flanked by four of his most loyal soldiers. Behind him was Dante’s uncle and the rest of the Moretti leadership were approaching.

This was the moment where blood usually started flowing.

"Lorenzo," Dante said, stepping in front of me with a tall posture. His protective instinct kicked in even though he barely knew my name. "This isn't what it looks like."

"Isn't it?" My father stepped closer, his eyes locked on Dante. "I saw the kiss, boy. The whole room saw it. You just claimed a Valenti daughter in front of the Commission.

Boy, that isn't a distraction in our world. That’s a declaration."

"Father, please" I started, but he held up a hand.

"Silence, Aria," he interrupted. He looked at Dante’s uncle, Silvio Moretti. "Silvio. It seems our families have been at each other's throats for too long. My daughter and your nephew seem to have found a... common interest."

Silvio, a man known for being even more calculating than my father, nodded slowly. "It would certainly solve the shipping dispute in the north. A merger of blood is stronger than a merger of paper."

I felt like I couldn't breath anymore. No. This couldn't be happening.

"Wait a minute," Dante said, raising his voice. "I was just"

"You were just announcing your engagement," my father interrupted showing a cruel, triumphant smile across his face. He looked at the crowd, raising his glass. "To Dante Moretti and Aria Valenti! The wedding will be held next Sunday at the Valenti estate. May this union bring peace to our streets."

A cheer went up from the guests with relief and excitement.

I looked at Dante. He looked like he’d been hit by a friggin train. He looked at me, and for a second, I saw on his face, the desperation I’d seen before.

"Sunday?" I whispered with bitterness in my tongue.

My father leaned in with his cigar breath "You wanted to play games, Aria. Now you’ve played yourself right into a cage. The real one. Don't even think about running. I’ve doubled the guards on Elena’s shop. You will marry the Moretti, or you will watch everyone you care about burn."

He walked away, leaving me standing in the middle of the ballroom with a man I didn't know, bound by a kiss I didn't want or ask for.

Dante turned to me, with eyes of guilt and fury. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I didn't know he was watching."

"Sorry doesn't fix my life, Moretti," I replied with rage. I reached out and grabbed his tie, pulling him down to my level. "You wanted a fiancée? Congratulations. You just got a wife who is going to make your life a living hell."

I let go of him and walked toward the exit, holding my head high even though my world just crumbled. I had only seven days to find a way out. Seven days to hack the Moretti accounts and steal enough to disappear, and leave this life behind for good.

But as I reached the doors, I turned back. Dante was still standing there, watching me with an intensity that made my skin crawl.

My father didn't just give me a husband, he gave me a death sentence. And I was going to make sure I wasn't the only one who died.