The Empire of Darkness In the shadows of the city, Gabriel Moretti reigns over one of Europe's most feared criminal empires. Cold, ruthless, and dangerously intelligent, he controls everything-until he meets Alba Ricci, a woman with a fiery gaze and a past shrouded in secrets. Once a brilliant surgeon, Alba now operates as an underground doctor for criminals, hiding from the life she abandoned. But fate has other plans. When Gabriel is ambushed and left for dead, she is forced to save him. From that moment, their fates are entangled. Gabriel is drawn to her in ways he can't explain. She challenges him, resists him, and refuses to submit. He doesn't believe in weakness-but Alba becomes his greatest obsession. Meanwhile, Alba is running from a past even darker than Gabriel's. Her father, Don Ricci, one of the most powerful mafia leaders in Italy, is hunting her down, determined to reclaim the daughter who betrayed him. As war erupts between rival factions, betrayal lurks within Gabriel's own ranks. Enemies strike from all sides, and trust becomes a dangerous gamble. But amid the bloodshed and deception, a passion ignites between Gabriel and Alba-one that could destroy them both. They are fire and ice, power and defiance. In a world where love is a liability and death is a constant shadow, they must decide: will they destroy each other, or will they rewrite the rules of the underworld together? In the mafia, love is always a dangerous game... and every passion has a price.
Chapter 1 The meeting
Gabriel Moretti
Burnt leather, the smell of blood, black smoke rising into the night.
It hurts. A dull pain twists my shoulder, hot and sticky. I don't have to look down to know: the bullet has gone in. Too clean to be a simple settling of scores, too precise to be a warning. Someone wanted to kill me.
I place a hand against the wound and straighten up against the gutted carcass of my car. The metal is still warm, deformed by the impact of the explosion. It all happened too fast. One minute we were driving through the night, Matteo at the wheel, three of my men as backup. The next, a spray of fire, detonation, the screech of tires tearing the asphalt. An ambush. Millimetre. They were waiting.
My breath is short. My trembling fingers slide over the leather of my jacket, sticky with blood. I feel the warm liquid slowly trickling down my arm, seeping under the fabric. I grit my teeth. Not now. Not here.
Matteo crawls towards me, his gun pressed to his chest. His face is tense, a trail of blood across his temple.
- We've got to move, capo.
His voice is low, but I sense the urgency beneath the feigned calm. My men are scattered around us, some inert, others groaning in the darkness. I don't need to count. I already know that many won't get up again.
I nod, try to sit up, but a jolt of pain explodes in my shoulder. I grunt, clench my jaw. Every movement is torture, every breath an effort.
- The car?
Matteo glanced at the smoking carcass.
- Busted.
Of course it is. My gaze sweeps the dark alleys around us. I don't have the luxury of waiting for reinforcements. If my enemies have had the audacity to attack here, it's because they know what they're doing. This isn't a warning, it's a botched execution.
- Hospital?" asks Matteo.
- Out of the question.
No doctors. No records. No evidence. If I set foot in a hospital, it will take an army to get me out alive. I have to disappear before this attack becomes an official declaration of war.
But I need a doctor. And I have an option. One I don't like.
Matteo stares at me, waiting for a decision.
- I have someone.
His eyebrows furrow.
- Confidence?
I don't answer immediately. Trust? No. But she's the only one who can patch me up, no questions asked.
I spit out a trickle of blood, inhale slowly. My voice is hoarse, sharp.
- Take me to Alba Ricci.
Alba Ricci
The silence of the night is a lie.
In the darkness of my apartment, I put my ear to the ground. I've learned to listen beyond the apparent calm. An engine slowing down too close to my building. Footsteps stopping in front of my door. Breath held behind a wall. The warning signs of danger are often imperceptible. Until it's too late.
I close my hand over the scalpel handle on the table. I never really sleep, not deeply, not since I ran away from what was supposed to be my life. Fear is a habit, an old friend.
Then, three sharp knocks against my door.
Not just a visitor. Someone who knows where to find me.
I stand still, the blade cold between my fingers.
- Alba. Open the door.
The voice is husky and low, but instantly recognizable. Gabriel Moretti.
My heart misses a beat. He shouldn't be here. He's never been to my house. He never comes in person. When one of his men is wounded, he sends someone else. Yet here he is, behind this door, and that can only mean one thing: he's in bad shape.
I put down the blade and unlock the door.
The first thing I see is blood.
His black shirt is sticky, stuck to his torso, a dark liquid spreading from the fabric to his skin. His right arm hangs slightly, stiff, unusable. He's been shot. His eyes, as cold as steel, lock with mine. He's pale, but he's standing. I should be relieved he hasn't fainted. But I'm not.
Gabriel crossed the threshold with a heavy step.
- Close the door.
I close behind him, cross my arms.
- Who did this to you?
His expression doesn't change.
- Does it matter?
I sigh. He won't tell me anything. I don't ask questions, that's our unspoken agreement.
I guide him to the examination table I use for my clandestine patients. He drops onto it, one hand clutching his injured shoulder.
- Take off your shirt.
A fleeting smile twists his lips, a glint of defiance in his eyes.
- If you wanted to see me shirtless, all you had to do was ask.
- If I wanted to see you shirtless, I wouldn't choose a night when you're pissing blood on my floor.
His smile fades, replaced by a rictus of pain as he slowly undoes the buttons on his shirt. He doesn't grimace, but I can see the tension in his jaw, the way he holds his breath. He's used to pain.
When he pulls aside the cloth, the wound is revealed. A clean wound, a clean entrance. The bullet is still lodged in his flesh. I frown.
- You were lucky. It passed right by an artery.
- I'm always lucky.
I look up at him.
- That's not what your condition tells me.
He doesn't answer. His gaze catches me, daring me to dig deeper. I grab a pair of gloves and get my gear ready. He can't stay here too long.
- Do you want an anaesthetic?
Gabriel sneers.
- Make it quick.
Chapter 1 The meeting
17/03/2025
Chapter 2 It's her
17/03/2025
Chapter 3 Wounded
17/03/2025
Chapter 4 The shadow of the past
17/03/2025
Chapter 5 Invisible chains
17/03/2025
Chapter 6 The price of freedom
17/03/2025
Chapter 7 The walls are closing in
17/03/2025
Chapter 8 A trap in the shadows
17/03/2025
Chapter 9 Pride and injury
17/03/2025
Chapter 10 The moment before the storm
17/03/2025
Chapter 11 The silence before the storm
18/03/2025
Chapter 12 Shadows never sleep
18/03/2025
Chapter 13 The calm before the storm
18/03/2025
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