PROTECTED BY THE DEVIL
DIANA SANTORO:
Five years locked inside a convent.
Not because I was holy.
Because the family I was born into is dangerous.
My name is Diana Santoro. Mafia blood. And in this world, daughters like me get hidden away until the war is over.
Now my brother’s the Don. And he wants me back.
The man he sent to collect me? Rocco Moretti. The most feared monster in Italy. The devil of Cosa Nostra. They say he pulls confessions out of men with his bare hands—then sleeps like a baby afterward.
Three days on the road. Just us.
He’s expecting some scared little nun-in-training, ready to be escorted quietly back to my gilded cage.
He has no idea that the only innocent thing about me is this face.
****
ROCCO MORETTI:
Forty-seven men. That's how many I've killed. Tortured more than double that. Never lost a minute of sleep over any of them.
So why does this girl—with her innocent eyes and that smart mouth—make me feel like I'm losing my goddamn mind around every bend of this road?
Last night, at some roadside motel, she walked into my room. Ran her fingers over my tattoos, looked up at me with this smirk, and told me she wasn't wearing underwear.
What the hell does she want? To destroy me? To see how far she can push before I snap?
She's a virgin. Untouched. Off-limits.
The one thing a man like me can never have.
But when she looks at me like that—wearing that short dress, lips parted just enough—I forget who I am.
I forget I'm the monster.
And I start wanting, with everything in me, to be the one who ruins her.
Even if it costs me my life.
Even if it costs me everything.