Alessandra has never believed in safety. Life never gave her a reason to. Pain carved her childhood, silence became her armor, and trust? That was a luxury she could never afford. So when she runs -- bloody, broken, and barely breathing, she doesn't expect saving. She certainly doesn't expect to be taken in by a family dripping in wealth and power and. . . warmth? A mother who refuses to give up on her. A father who watches like he's waiting for her to let him in. And six brothers. Rough. Protective. Complicated. Brothers, who don't know what to do with a sister who won't speak. She doesn't know how to trust. How to believe that maybe not everyone wants to hurt her. Every instinct tells her to run. To shut down. But they don't let her go. Not when she flinches. Not when she hides. Not even when she breaks. Happiness is for other people, or that's what she believes. But when love comes wrapped in gentle patience and fierce protection, when hands reach for her without demand, when hearts break themselves wide open just to hold her... she starts to wonder. Can a girl stitched together with silence and fear ever belong in a family built on love? Can she stand tall when the ghosts of her past refuse to let go? And when danger claws its way back into her life, threatening everything she's come to know... will she find her voice, or will she shatter all over again? Trigger Warnings: Child abuse. Violence. Addiction. Panic attacks. SA. Self-harm. Death, and more.

Alessandra Moretti is not a woman people refuse. She controls Milan like a chessboard. Politicians lower their voices around her. Billion-dollar deals rise or collapse depending on a single message from her phone. She does not chase. She does not wait. And she has never been powerless. Well. Until Noor Malik. Noor is everything Alessandra is not. Soft. Gentle. Obedient. A brilliant embryologist who can create life under a microscope... yet still lowers her eyes when her parents speak. Noor does not rebel. She does not argue. She loves her parents too much to ever disobey them. Which means Alessandra cannot touch them. Not their house. Not their pride. Not the traditions that are slowly suffocating the woman she loves. Because Noor would never forgive her. And Alessandra would rather bring nations to their knees than see tears in Noor's eyes. So the most dangerous woman in Europe does something unimaginable. She waits. She drives Noor to work every morning in a Bentley worth more than the Malik house. She buys her banana ice cream like a lovesick fool. She kisses her slowly in the privacy of a car because that's the only place Noor is allowed to belong to her. But obedience has a cost. And Noor's parents are already planning the one thing Alessandra cannot allow. A husband. They believe tradition will save their daughter. They have no idea what they're provoking. Because Alessandra Moretti does not steal what she wants. She expands. And when the woman who keeps the devil calm is taken away... Cities don't just burn. They kneel. #1 in older women- 4th May.