Chapter 1
(Alessia pov)
This is not how I planned to celebrate my twenty-first birthday. I had imagined champagne, maybe a ridiculous birthday cake baked by me, a night filled with music. Instead I was being walked down the aisle to my execution by my father the Don of the Vitale mafia family while wearing a wedding dress.
My father’s hand tightened around mine as he escorted me down the cathedral aisle. “Stop fidgeting,” he muttered.
“I’m trying not to fucking throw up.”
His jaw tightened. “Watch your mouth.”
I glanced at him.
“What? You want me to pretend I’m happy about this shit?”
His eyes flashed a warning.
“Not every man tolerates a woman who speaks like that.”
I almost laughed, ahead of us stood my soon to be husband.
Luca.
My father’s most trusted enforcer, the man who handled every dirty, bloody job my father refused to have his fingerprints on, kidnappings, intimidation, debt collection. People whispered his name in the streets because they were terrified of what happened when Luca was sent to collect and now my father had decided the best way to secure his loyalty was to give him his daughter.
I swallowed hard, silently begging every saint I could remember, let the lights go out, let the roof collapse, let a meteor hit the cathedral, I just didn’t care at this point, all I needed was a miracle.
The cathedral was silent except for the slow organ music accompanying our steps, my father led me closer and Luca watched me without expression, he looked cold and polished, the way dangerous men often did. Dark hair, sharp jaw, broad shoulders beneath his black suit, and eyes that seemed incapable of warmth, when my father placed my hand in his, Luca’s fingers closed around mine and I winced.
“Smile,” he whispered.
“I’d rather die.”
His grip tightened until it hurt.
“Careful what you wish for”
The priest cleared his throat.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today—”
I stopped listening, my heart hammered against my ribs, I looked toward the enormous cathedral doors, the priest continued, eventually he turned toward Luca.
“Do you, Luca Moretti, take Alessia Vitale to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
Luca didn’t hesitate.
“I do.”
My stomach twisted and he turned toward me.
“And do you, Alessia Vitale, take Luca Moretti to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
I said nothing, my father stared at me from beside the altar, Luca’s expression hardened.
“Alessia,” he warned, voice low and sharp.
I kept my eyes on the priest, maybe if I stayed silent long enough, the universe would understand what I was trying to say which was fucking no. Luca suddenly seized my arm, his fingers dug into my skin as he yanked me closer.
“Answer him.”
I opened my mouth.
“I—”
Just then the cathedral doors exploded inward and everyone screamed, the organ stopped, smoke poured through the entrance as armed men stormed into the cathedral, my father immediately shoved me behind him.
“Who the hell—?”
A man stepped through the smoke slowly and calmly as though he had just arrived for dinner instead of invading another don's daughter's wedding, my breath caught, I knew him, everyone did.
Matteo Santoro, the Santoro Don, the man who had taken control of his family's empire after eliminating everyone who tried to take it from him, the man whose name was spoken in whispers even by people who feared my father, he wasn’t simply dangerous, he was the kind of man other dangerous men avoided.
He was surrounded by armed men dressed in black, his dark hair was pushed away from his forehead, revealing a sharp, merciless face, his eyes were the worst part, cold and calculating, almost completely emotionless, he stopped several feet from the altar.
My father stepped forward.
“Why the fuck did you interrupt my daughter’s wedding?”
Matteo’s gaze moved lazily across the cathedral.
“I came to collect what you owe me.”
My father’s face darkened.
“I don’t owe you a goddamn thing.”
Matteo smiled, It wasn’t a pleasant smile.
“Your men intercepted my shipment three nights ago.”
“That wasn’t me.”
“You’re lying.”
“I said I don’t have your fucking ammunition.”
Matteo tilted his head, for a moment he seemed ready to argue, then his eyes moved past my father straight to me, I froze as his stare held mine, something changed in his expression, he looked at me as though he’d just discovered something far more interesting than the shipment he’d come to retrieve.
“Well,” he murmured.
My father frowned.
“What?”
Matteo’s gaze never left mine.
“I’ve changed my mind, I’ll take her instead.”
My heart began pounding again, the cathedral erupted in shocked whispers, my father stared at him.
“You’re out of your goddamn mind.”
Matteo’s eyes remained fixed on me.
“No, I’m collecting payment for what you stole”
Luca stepped forward, fury twisting his face.
“You arrogant son of a bitch—”
He never finished, Matteo’s gun appeared in his hand, one shot rang through the cathedral and Luca collapsed, blood blooming across the front of his suit, screams filled the room, my mind went blank, then another sound reached me, men shouting, my father’s men firing back, people running, glass shattering, smoke spreading through the cathedral, but I couldn’t move.
I was twelve again, standing in the snow watching my mother fall, remembering the terrible silence afterward and the red stain spreading across the white snow, my knees weakened.
Someone grabbed me, I didn’t fight, I couldn’t. Matteo lifted me over his shoulder as if I weighed nothing.
“Move!”
His men surrounded us while gunfire thundered behind us, my father shouted my name, I finally snapped out of my trance.
“Put me the fuck down!”
I slammed my fists against Matteo’s back, he kept walking.
“Put me down, you bastard!”
I hit him again and again.
“You fucking psychopath!”
I scratched at his shoulder, hard enough to draw blood, that finally stopped him, Matteo turned his head slightly, his expression was terrifyingly calm as he shifted me higher over his shoulder.
“If you scratch me again,” he said in a low, deadly voice, “I’ll put a bullet in your head just like I did your fiancé.”
I went completely still, his men continued dragging us through the smoke, behind me, the cathedral had become a battlefield and as Matteo carried me through the shattered doors, I realized something terrifying. I have been kidnapped.