Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 86325 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86325 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
I stare down at my palms. They're tanned, no blood in sight. But I can still see it. Feel it. The thick, dark blood seeping into my skin, marking me with my crimes for-fucking-ever.
It doesn't matter who the blonde girl is. I shouldn't ask. Shouldn't show my interest. It will only end in fucking disaster, and my need to protect the girl is fiercer than the desire to find out who she is.
After all, I know my love only means one thing... death. Or pain.
Father will pick a bride for me, to strengthen the alliance with one of the other mafia famiglias. I don't get a say, and I don't want to get a say. I will not be the goddamn reason another innocent life is taken.
Not when Livia's memory is still so fucking fresh I can hear her desperate screams every time I close my eyes.
Not when I can still feel her silky soft skin against mine, her pillowy lips pressing kisses against my mouth.
Not when she's gone, dead, killed because of me.
I'm not letting that happen to anyone else. I refuse to be the reason someone I love dies.
The little blonde is better off never knowing I exist. I probably won't see her again, anyway. She already belongs to the past, just like Nicoletta Carlucci and her fears of getting hurt.
There's no way I can help those innocent creatures. My interest in the two blondes will only end in sorrow.
Downing a glass of champagne, I head back and rejoin Adrian with the business partners. He claps me on the back, delighted I've gotten over my little obsessive episode and I'm back to being reliable, cold, cruel Ryder Bernardi. I join in the conversation, full of cool smirks and bragging about how many people we've killed.
And all the while, my eyes scan the crowd, hoping, fucking praying, for another glimpse of the pale blonde who prompted such a reaction from my broken heart.
1
Nicoletta
My father is a cruel man.
I've always known it – it's not as if he kept it a secret from me. But I know as long as I keep playing my role perfectly, Papa will go along with everything I do, give me everything I want. All I have to do is be a good little girl and raise absolutely no suspicion about the Carlucci famiglia. And I've played my part so very well. I am the quintessential mafia princess, the girl Papa always wanted me to be. But deep down, something else bubbles beneath the surface. Something dangerous and sinister. Something I can't reveal to anyone.
The Carlucci Villa has been my home for the past four years. We moved here from the mainland when I was fourteen. Papa bought the property and built this house to show everyone who passed by how rich we are. Papa is obsessed with money and making sure everyone around us knows how loaded we are. Papa likes to intimidate people. He wants them to be afraid of him. He says that's the only way to keep us both safe.
But now I'm older, no longer the little girl I was when we first moved here. Papa has told me that I'll soon marry to strengthen our bond with the Bernardi family. I don't get a choice in the matter, but I never expected to. I'll say I do to the man my father picks for me and be a good girl for him just like Papa wants. I can only hope the man he picked for me, Adrian Bernardi, is kind and not as cruel as some of the men who run this island.
Despite my father's best efforts to shelter and protect me, I've seen the ugly side of the mafia too many times to count. Some of it even from Papa. I'm not as innocent as he likes to think. Not just because of what I've experienced, but because of the hidden need deep inside me, growing with each day that passes, bringing me closer to my eighteenth birthday.
Papa wants me to stay a little girl forever, but in my mind, I grew up the moment he made me move here, to Palermo. This need, this thirst for physical touch, is something I've never told my father about.
I discovered I could make myself feel good years ago, but Papa caught me. And when he saw what I was doing, he threatened to lock me up in chastity if I didn't stop. So, I did as I was told. I kept my hands off the parts of my body between my legs that ached to be touched the most. I'm innocent in everyone's eyes except Papa's and my own. My virginity is intact, just like Papa wanted. But I'm more eager than ever to get rid of it.
That's why I'm excited to meet my husband-to-be. I've heard rumors about Adrian Bernardi. The quiet, brooding son of Bruno Bernardi may be adopted, but he is just as powerful as he would be if he were Bruno's blood. They say he's unforgiving and vengeful. I can only hope he'll be a good husband to me despite all the rumors circulating around him.