Trapped by the Mafia King

To pay off my late father’s ruinous mafia blood debt, I took a lethal job: acting as a body double for a cloistered Mafia Princess in an arranged marriage meeting.

But the man sitting across the polished table was Felix Falcone, the terrifying Underboss—and the boy I secretly loved for three years at our academy.

He didn’t recognize me. To him, I was just a pawn for territory. I swallowed my bitter heartbreak, remembering how he once threw my handmade graduation pastries into the trash without a second glance. I tried to play the perfect fake bride, but my treacherous memory betrayed me. I accidentally revealed intimate details about his habits, from his hatred of dark chocolate to the exact make of his tactical pen. My cover was blown. But instead of executing me for the deception, Felix discovered my true identity. His cold indifference instantly morphed into a terrifying, obsessive possessiveness. He abruptly canceled his mafia marriage, trapped me in his corporate empire as his exclusive secretary, and ruthlessly threatened any man who dared to look at me.

I was completely suffocated and confused. Why was this ruthless predator—a man who once publicly despised me and viewed unions only as tools for absolute power—now hunting me with such dark, unyielding devotion?

Trapped in the shadows of his armored SUV, he leaned in, his scent of cedar and danger wrapping around me as he sent a message demanding my complete surrender. Knowing I could no longer hide, I made my choice and hit send.

“There is no need for a hunt, Felix. I surrender.”

Chapter 1

Cece POV

I was staring blindly at the gilt lettering of a menu in a heavily guarded private club when a low vibration started against the flesh of my thigh. It was a message from the real Mafia Princess: *Ask the Underboss about the one face he could never erase from his memory at the academy, or I pull your hazard pay and leave you to his executioners.*

I swallowed against the cold knot of dread forming in my throat and locked the phone screen.

My name is Cecelia Rossi. I've been out of the academy for three years, drowning in a blood debt so vast it felt like a physical weight on my chest—my late father's parting gift. He was a man of small consequence, a low-level associate who crossed the wrong people, and I'm the one paying for his sins.

That's exactly why I'm sitting in this hushed VIP room, pretending to be Gianna Vitiello, the sheltered daughter of a high-ranking Capo. I'm a body double. A decoy bride sent into the lion's den to test the waters for an arranged marriage written in blood.

And the man across the expanse of polished mahogany is Felix Falcone.

He's the Underboss and sole heir to the Falcone Famiglia—a man who rules this city's underbelly with absolute authority built on a mountain of broken bones and silenced enemies. God help me, he's also the boy whose shadow I quietly traced for three agonizing years at our elite private academy.

Felix leaned back in his deep leather chair, wearing a dark, impeccably tailored suit that hugged the broad lines of his shoulders. His presence seemed to alter the density of the air, making every breath a conscious effort. He was lethal, perfectly composed, and completely distant.

And he didn't recognize me.

When we'd shaken hands earlier, his grip had been firm and cold. He'd looked right through me, his dark eyes seeing only the coddled Mafia Princess I was hired to play. A twisted relief washed over me—if he knew who I really was, I'd already be dead. But beneath that survival instinct, a hollow disappointment settled deep in my chest. I was entirely forgettable to him.

Though, to be fair, Gianna's stylist had worked me over for two hours before this meeting. My usually unremarkable hair was sculpted into something sleek and severe. The makeup was heavy—smoky eyes, a blood-red lip. Even I hadn't recognized myself in the mirror. Gianna had smirked and said the transformation was "necessary camouflage." I looked the part of a Mafia Princess. I looked nothing like the quiet academy ghost Felix had ignored for three years.