Veronika Koroleva Petrovna-Moscow's untouchable queen. The wealthiest, most powerful woman in Russia. A name that drips with arrogance, feared as much as it is revered. With a single glance, she ensnares. A presence so sharp it cuts. To her, people are nothing but pawns-disposable, forgettable, irrelevant. Trust is a currency too expensive to waste. Loneliness is not a curse; it is a necessity. No parents, no attachments, no weaknesses. Begging? Pleading? Nyet. That is beneath her. Luciana "La Reina" Monteserra-Madrid's deadliest shadow. A queen of ruin and carnage, cloaked in elegance. Cold. Calculating. Lacking even the pretense of empathy. She does not ask. She takes. What she touches, she owns. What she claims, she keeps. No one defies her. No one escapes her grasp. But Veronika? Veronika was the exception. The one thing she could never own.

Forbidden things always seem to be the most desirable and I never been one to hold back from getting what I want, no matter the circumstances. Until her. She's beyond forbidden, yet she's all I want, all I crave, all I desire.

Valeria La Reina Monteserra has always been a woman of excess-luxury, arrogance, and a dangerous freedom that leaves no room for anyone's expectations. Born the youngest of the infamous Monteserra family, she walked away from a life of crime to seek her own path, a life without the weight of her older siblings' shadows. But escape isn't as simple as it seems. Five years ago, Valeria helped her sister, Luciana, kill Lorenzo-the man responsible for the love of Luciana's life, Veronika, the ruler of Russia. That single act tied her even tighter to the dangerous world she tried to leave behind. Now, she finds herself in Sweden, supporting her brilliant niece, Hanna, as she navigates the corridors of academia. But trouble is never far behind. Not when Selena Alexandra Lindström, the composed and intelligent professor who annoys her to no end, is part of the equation. Valeria, spoiled and unrepentant, can't resist teasing Selena. But beneath the arrogant exterior lies a secret-one tied to her blood-stained past. A past she's sworn to keep hidden from Selena, a woman whose life couldn't be more different from her own. As old ghosts resurface and emotions collide, Valeria must decide: Will she remain the free spirit she's always been, or will her family's dark legacy pull her back into a world where power, betrayal, and dangerous liaisons rule? In the game of empires, only the most cunning survive. But what happens when the heart gets in the way?