All Chapters of The Mafia's Lost Queen: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

The chandeliers sparkled, each light reflecting off the polished marble floors of the Grand Bellini Hall. I adjusted the strap of my dress, trying to steady the nerves coiling in my stomach. My family’s company was on the brink of collapse, and tonight was my chance to save it or watch everything we’d built crumble. Investors milled around, champagne flutes in hand, smiles that didn’t reach their eyes. I wasn’t here for the glamour. I was here to fight for survival.And then I saw him.Damiano Moretti.The moment our eyes met, I felt the air shift, thick and electric. He was taller than I remembered from the few news clips and rumors I’d seen, dark suit, darker eyes, a predator calm in every movement. My pulse spiked. I’d heard stories: ruthless, untouchable, untamed. And here he was, leaning casually against a balcony railing, scanning the room with a gaze that could strip you bare without touching you.I wanted to turn and vanish, to melt into the crowd and pretend I hadn’t seen him

AriaHe stabbed the dagger into the back of Ethan’s hand, the blade ripping through his skin.Ethan groaned in pain.“WAIT!” The word ripped out of me before I even understood I was the one screaming.Damiano’s hand paused, the dagger still on Ethan’s skin, a single breath away from sliced through bone.“Please…” my voice cracked, raw, desperate. “Stop. Please.”Damiano’s eyes lifted to mine. Cold. Unmoved. Calculative.“Your answer,” he said quietly. My chest tightened until I couldn’t breathe. Ethan trembled, biting back tears. Mom sobbed, Dad folded biting his fingers.If I say no, Ethan bleeds. If I say yes… I’m trapped with Damiano Forever.“I’ll do it.” I whispered, without thinking further. “I’ll marry you,” I forced out. “Just…just don’t hurt him.”Damiano pulled the dagger and Ethan groaned in pain. He wiped Ethan’s blood from the blade with a cloth one of his men handed him, then slid it back into his jacket as if nothing had happened.“Wise,” he murmured.The men released

Damiano Lorenzo didn’t bother knocking. He never did. The glass door swung open, and he stepped inside my office with the same irritated energy I felt toward him most days.“Why did you send Tony to my house?” he demanded, stopping in front of my desk.“Because you weren’t answering your calls.”“It was one missed call…”“It was seven,” I cut in sharply. “And my time isn’t something anyone wastes. Not even you.”Lorenzo exhaled sharply, biting back whatever insult he wanted to throw. He’d known me long enough to understand that when I needed someone to do something,I needed them immediately. “So?” I asked. “You’re here now. What do you want?”He shifted his weight. “I heard news about the Russo girl.”My jaw ticked. “Aria?.”“Who else?” he snapped.“Oh!”“Yeah, I heard people talking.” Lorenzo raised an eyebrow, “ And you didn’t tell me anything about it.” I closed the folder on my desk. “It’s final.”“Damiano…”“She is the repayment for her family’s debt, I don’t owe the Russos cha