The Underboss's Secret: A Mafia Bride's Escape

operty, the cure for a violent curse that plagued him. He promised that

ur arrangement. He brought home another wom

from my hand, shattering it. When I confronted her, Dante s

e readily believed. To force a confession, he had my mother tied in a s

too. I saved my mother, and we fled the country

Australia, begging for forgiveness. I rejected him,

towards us. The last thing I saw was Dante throwi

pte

ra

oice: erase myself from his life, or he'd erase me from the wo

d with the expensive cologne I'd bought him for his birthday. He was the Underboss of the Moretti crime family, a man c

me where I stood waiting by the floor-to-ceiling windows. He shed his jacket, letting

nd something wilder. This was his ritual. He would take the violence of his world and wash i

lent, uncontrollable rage, his father, the Don, had come to me. I was the daughter of a loyal Soldier who had died for them. I had loved

pe I'd clung to for a thousand lonely nights: "If I have n

athing already steadying while my own was still a ragged mess. He stood, walking

said, his voice flat. H

't break. It

he amber liquid in his glass. "Her name is Sie

furniture he was about to replace. He pulled his wallet from his discarded pants, took out a blac

said, a cruel smile touching his

as mocking me. Mocking the devotion I had gi

e? She's... pure. Not like you." He gestured vaguely at me, a

e-looking blonde he was helping into his car, his touch gentle, protective. A woman

and, buzzed. I glanced at the

racle. Julian T

ealed forever. Julian. The boy who had been my friend before Da

ed something in my

gely light. I gathered my few belongings-the ones he allowed me to keep h

a smiling Sienna Reed. Her eyes,

smile faltering. "

ist, pulling her possessively

e laced with casual dismissal. "Sh

ove past them, she shifted, her shoulder bumping hard against mine. I stumbled, and the small, carved wooden bird in

th a sickening crack, shat