S.K.Taylor
Maria Orsini was only sixteen when her father, a Capo, died protecting the life of Vittorio Rossi, the powerful Mafia Godfather.
Devastated, Don Vittorio makes a decision that will change Maria's life.
He arranges her marriage to his son, Donatello Rossi, the cold, powerful heir to the Rossi empire, although his son is twelve years older than Maria and in love with another woman.
Following the strict code of the Mafia, where the Godfather’s word is law, Donatello accepts the marriage out of duty, not love.
He is in love with Sophia Bellini. To the cold, authoritative Donatello, Maria is little more than a burden,just a responsibility he never wanted.
He is never deliberately cruel to her.
That almost makes it worse.
He gives her a beautiful home, security, servants and everything money can buy, but never gives her the one thing she desperately wants: him.
Maria grows into a beautiful young woman inside a marriage that feels like a prison. Quiet, loyal and painfully in love with her husband, she waits for Donatello to see her as his wife rather than his father's obligation.
Then, unexpectedly, something changes.
Maria and Donatello become closer.
Then Sophia Bellini returns.
She had married another man after Donatello failed to choose her, but the marriage has ended badly. Sophia comes back to Donatello just as he is vulnerable.
She tells him she never stopped loving him.
And Donatello, lets her back into his world.
At first, Maria tries to believe it means nothing.
Then she sees the way Donatello looks at Sophia.
The tenderness he denied Maria.
After giving this man three years of her youth, her love and two sons, she may still be the woman he chose only because he couldn't have the woman he wanted.
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