Chapter 1

“Well, Mr. Valenti? Two choices. That seems fair enough, doesn’t it?”

Soren casually toyed with the gun in his hand.

The agreement he had thrown onto the floor was still lying open at my father’s feet.

The computer screen on the table displayed all of the Valenti family’s accounts.

His greedy gaze settled on Vera, who was huddled beside the sofa.

“Come back to the Greco estate with me and keep me happy, and I might let your family live a little longer.”

He laughed arrogantly and added, “Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.”

Luca, my second brother and the most hot-tempered of the four, roared as he charged forward. “You bastard! In your dreams! Just try laying a hand on her!”

Two of Soren’s men were ready for him and immediately seized Luca by the shoulders from either side, pinning him firmly in place.

Soren did not even raise his eyes as he slowly smoothed a crease from his cuff and walked toward Vera.

As he approached, Vera did not retreat and instead took half a step forward.

She planted herself between Soren and me, shielding me with her own body.

I would have been lying if I said I was not moved, especially when there was not even any blood between us.

But I did not move.

I glanced toward the shadows beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows and counted twelve snipers concealed around the estate.

He had certainly come prepared.

At that moment, all Soren had to do was give the order, and those snipers could kill everyone in the room.

That was why I could not make a reckless move yet, at least not now.

I was the biological daughter the Valenti family had lost many years ago.

During the years I spent on the streets, I had clawed my way out of one pile of bodies after another.

To survive, I learned how to modify firearms, build weapons, forge documents, and reproduce high-end works of art.

Eventually, I became the woman Sicily knew only as C—a name that could silence an entire room.

With my eyes closed, I could strip and reassemble even the most sophisticated sniper rifle within seconds, while the sculptures and paintings I reproduced could fool even the world’s finest authenticators.

Then, during an operation, my vocal cords were severely burned by smoke.

I used the surgery as an opportunity to fake my death, intending to disappear and live under a new identity.

Before I had even managed to settle down, however, my biological father, Massimo Valenti, found me and brought me back to the family.

The doctor had ordered me not to speak for three months after the surgery.

That gave me a convenient reason to remain silent and spared me from whatever probing or scrutiny might otherwise have followed.

By instinct, I quietly observed them, kept my guard up, and habitually searched for their weaknesses.

The problem was that no matter how carefully I watched the Valentis, they never gave me a reason to turn on them.

My father, a Don whose word was law outside the house, secretly wiped away tears because of me when no one was looking; my mother had gone to Florence that week to take care of my grandmother, but before leaving, she had baked an entire box of pastries for me; my brothers constantly searched for unusual gifts just to earn a single smile from me; and Vera had stayed up learning sign language simply so she could communicate with me more easily.

For the first time in my life, no one was forcing me to risk my life in exchange for intelligence.

They protected me simply because I was family.

Aldo, my third brother, had gone to the docks that night to deal with one of our shipping routes, and no one had been able to reach him since.

I should have realized sooner that someone had deliberately gotten him out of the way.

“Mr. Valenti, the Eight Families have joined forces against you, so I’m afraid no one is coming to save you tonight.”

Soren stood in front of my father and lightly tapped his face with the grip of his gun.

“It looks like your days as Don are finally over.”

Behind her back, Vera’s fingers were trembling uncontrollably, but she still signed to me as quickly as she could.

[Don’t be afraid. When you get the chance, run to the hidden passage upstairs.]

The movement caught Soren’s attention.

His gaze passed over Vera’s shoulder and landed on me, curled up in the corner of the sofa.

When he got a clear look at my face, he ran his tongue over his lips and said, “Well, the Valenti family has been hiding quite a beauty.”