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Chapter One
Aria
I’m a Mafia princess.
People practically bow to me. They worship me. They respect me.
At least that’s what they would do if I wasn’t forced to be locked up in my house.
As a Mafia daughter, my father, Elio Romano, is paranoid something will happen to me. I am the future for him and out family. I have to marry well.
And because of that, he wants to make sure I’m a virgin. Because if I had my way, I’d already have a boyfriend. I don’t give a fuck about marriage but I do love my father and wantto continue on with my family’s legacy. I take pride in my reputation.
Which is why I wouldn’t allow just any man to touch me. It would be my choice.
The problem is: it’s never my choice.
I overhear my father on the phone one night. My favorite spot to eavesdrop on him is on the stairs. For some reason, he never seems to check me here.
“What do you mean he won’t marry her?” Dad asks someone on the phone.
I sit up straighter. Someone won’t marry me?
Just a few weeks ago, a deal was struck. I was to marry Viktor Smirnov, a high ranking Bratva man. I was disgusted when my father told me. The Russian Mafia? Seriously? I’d rather stab a hot poker in my eye than marry someone like that. I deserve the best of the best. I deserve a Mafia man, like my father’s friend Dante Moretti.
I don’t have romantic feelings for Dante, who’s the head of the Italian Mafia. He’s always been like a father to me. But someone of his standing is what I want. I don’t belong in the trenches.
And if I had my way, I would make that choice.
Except, my father wants me married to some Russian who’s already married.
I strain to listen to my dad’s conversation.
“He refuses to leave his wife?” he asks the other person. I wish I knew who it was. I wish I was a part of that conversation. I hate being shut out. “If you knew this, Dante, then you never should have tried to marry him to my Aria.”
Dante. Of course. I should have figured.
It hurt me when he and my father told me they were striking up a deal to marry me to Viktor. It was a betrayal.
But now it seems I won’t have to marry Viktor. Not if he refuses to leave his current wife. Some maid he married, I guess.How naïve and stupid can a grown man be? You never marry the help.
You never fall in love with them.
If you’re a high ranking mafia member, you marry a high ranking mafia member.
“This is going to hurt Aria’s reputation,” my father continued. “You promised us peace with the Russians. I didn’t even want to marry her to him in the first place. But I agreed since I knew it was a good way to gain power. And Viktor has made a fool out of Aria. What man will want her now that she’s been rejected?”
I flinch. I didn’t think of it that way. I’m just relieved I won’t have to marry Viktor Smirnov. I never would have let a dirty Russian touch me. Only an Italian man is worthy of my body and my brain.
“You need to make this happen, Dante.” Dad goes silent. “Make him divorce his wife then!” Silent again. “You can’t? You’re the head of the Mafia. You have an alliance with Erik Koslov. You’re seriously telling me you can’t force Viktor to do what you want?”
Erik Koslov is the head of the Russian Mafia. He made a deal with Dante years ago when Dante stole Erik’s sister-in-law, Nadia Belov, away. They’ve been trying to work together ever since.
From my little understanding, their alliance is tentative at best. It almost crumbled when some men who worked for Dante – Irish hitman brothers – kidnapped a Russian girl, Elena Romanov, and killed her father, Ivan. Apparently, one of the brothers, Aiden, fell in love with Elena and they married. That pissed Viktor off since he was supposed to marry Elena.
Then he got passed onto me and now he doesn’t even want to marry me? Fucker. Who wouldn’t want to marry me? I’m a great catch. Blonde, slim, witty. I’m the complete package.
“Damn you, Dante.”