The De Luca brothers reign supreme in the underworld, holding dominion over the ruthless realm of the Italian Mafia. They are cold, merciless, driven by madness, their loyalty solely to blood. Yet, their lives take an unexpected turn when they discovered their thirteen years old little sister. *** "When she was choking me, is that... love?" she whispered, her voice barely audible, each word trembling as if afraid to leave her lips. Her eyes, wide and glassy, searched mine desperately, seeking a truth that she couldn't grasp amidst the fog of confusion and despair that clouded her mind. My heart seethed with rage, a torrent of emotions crashing against the walls of my restraint, threatening to betray the stoic facade I had carefully constructed. I wanted to scream, to shake her out of this misguided belief. Hestia, my little sister, stared back at me. Her innocence tainted by the cruel hands of someone who had twisted the meaning of love into something unrecognizable. She couldn't differentiate the painfully obvious truth, the clear distinction between love and control, kindness and cruelty. It was as if the very essence of her spirit was being suffocated, just as her breath had been. ── ─ ┈┈┈┄┄╌╌ ⚠️ Trigger Warning: This story contains sensitive and potentially distressing themes, including abuse, sexual assault, rape, psychological trauma, and mature content. Cover by Canva Update: Random

Aurora's life had always been about survival, each day a quiet battle against fear and pain. When her stepfather was finally arrested, she thought the fight was over. But leaving one dangerous world meant stepping into another-one she didn't fully understand. Now, she's living with seven older brothers she barely knows, their lives a tangle of secrets and shadows they never speak of. Their house is loud, protective, and filled with rules she's afraid to break. For Aurora, it's a new kind of survival. For her brothers, it's a chance to keep her safe-no matter what it takes.

Sofia is a 17 years old high school student under the guardianship of her step-father. Several weeks after her mother's death Sofia discovers the horrible truth. It wasn't an accident, it was a murder. And she's living under the same roof with her mother's killer. Without any backup plan or money, Sofia escapes to Italy and slowly starts to unveil the mystery of her mother's past. She hopes she can find her biological family before Paul finds her. But will she succeed? Content warning: suicide attempt, self-harm.

Catalina Black is barely holding the cracks her life together, when it shatters completely. Her abusive foster dad is dead. She has nowhere to go. Officially unwanted. So what happens when she finds out about her real family. Seven older brothers, twice the amount of brothers she had ever had in her entire foster care experience. Trying her best to cover her traumatic past she goes on to live with them. But she is stung with their harshness. How could her own blood be so ignorant? Any little hope she had left, is crushed with their actions and behavior. Cat is more alone than she has ever been, will her brothers open up to her when she needs them the most? TW ⚠️: Mental+sexual abuse, depression, anxiety, bullying

Amalia Romano is a selective mute. After years of enduring abuse from her step father, who has ridiculed and hurt her mercilessly, she doesn't want to talk, for fear of what might happen if someone doesn't like what she says. But then her step father--who's care she has been in for two years, ever since her mum died--passes away, and her father, who she was taken away from when she was three, agrees to take her in. But she isn't the smiley little girl she used to be. And the Romano men have secrets of their own, ones they want to keep their twelve year old princess away from. 1M VIEWS: Sunday, 12th March 2023 COVER BY: @sugarhighstoned

After enduring years of neglect and cruelty from her mother and stepfather, Ariana's life changes drastically when tragedy brings her under the guardianship of five brothers she's never met and they never even knew they had a sister. For her brothers, learning they have a sister is an unwelcome surprise. Suspicious and reluctant, her brothers see Aria as an outsider, a stranger disrupting the fragile balance of their lives. For Aria, their home is both a new beginning and a constant reminder of the family that left her behind. Haunted by the pain of her past, Aria struggles to adjust, her every action guarded and her trust hard to earn. As her brothers try to understand her, they begin to glimpse the scars she hides and the strength she carries. Little by little, resentment turns to empathy, and the walls between them start to crumble. But just as the siblings begin to find common ground, the secrets and trauma of Aria's old life threaten to tear them apart. Together, they must decide whether they can overcome the shadows of the past to forge a family and whether Aria can finally find a place to belong.

They were her sentinels, her saviors, the reason that she refuses to let her past consume her. 𝐆𝐈𝐔𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐎, a young girl who's never known stability. Raised by a reckless, unstable mother, she spent her childhood caught between drug runs and police raids, ruining her right for a normal childhood. One night when her mother goes missing, Giulia's whole life changes... again. Will being under the guardianship of her new older brothers give her a chance at normalcy in her life or will they cause even more mess than before? Healing isn't easy and trust doesn't come free. ☆ ☆ ☆ As I lied there in the hospital bed with a pounding headache, practically suffocating me while barely conscious, I heard that familiar, raspy, deep, sleep deprived voice that I've recently come to find comfort in. "Nessuno oserà toccarti di nuovo senza perdere le mani, amore," they whispered. (No one will dare touch you again without losing their hands, love.) I felt two hands hold my face with a soft kiss on my forehead. Their rough and large hands a contrast to their gentleness. The comforter over me shuffled as the familiar person brought them up to my chin and tucked me in. "Riposati ora sei al sicuro, bambina," they murmured, stroking my hair. Before I knew it, simply the presence of them reassured me as I felt myself drift off again into a deep sleep. (Rest now, you're safe, baby). ☆ ☆ ☆ 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄 (noun): a state of being pleasantly lost in one's thoughts; a daydream.

She's a fifteen-year-old girl who killed her "father" in self-defense and lied about it to the police. She thinks she has no other family members and now she has nowhere to live but the police tell her she was kidnapped from her real family when she was little and she has six older brothers. Now that she has to go live with them, she can sense they're all hiding something from her. But what could it be?

book 1 of the windows of the soul duology ✿ ✿ ✿ lucent: softly bright or radiant ✿ ✿ ✿ My brother's hand traces the cut on my right cheek for some minutes. I have no idea how a cut can be so interesting, but I won't judge a book by its cover. He unexpectedly moves and places a heartwarming kiss on my crown, brushing through the strands of my hair. But what startles me the most, is when he speaks, "Duerme bien, mi niña bonita." And just as I wasn't able to sleep hours ago because of my stupid fear, I let myself fall into a dreamless sleep as his soothing voice travels through my ears. ✿ ✿ ✿ Layla Rivera. A young naive fourteen-year-old who's just lost her childhood best friend and guardian. She's anxious and timid when meeting other people, so she usually cowers and distracts herself, immerse between the pages of books. When she is thrown into the lion's den - or also named as her older brothers' house - she's left fearful and intimidated by the six foot three males who she never had a clue about. Trying to make sense of what her new life will bring while being unaware of the dangers her new home beholds, she tries to make her way into her new family, but it doesn't seem as easy as she expected, or is it? ©️juststarsandbooks All written works on this account belong to Juststarsandbooks. I do not condone any reproduction/duplication of this book anywhere - app, website, etc - without my consent. Pics aren't mine.