13 bab Bersambung Alt Title: Shadows of Innocence
The underworld had always belonged to Adrian Moretti. At twenty-eight, he was feared across the American East Coast-ruthless, untouchable, the kind of man who could make empires rise and crumble with a single command. But beneath the blood and the violence, there was one thing he had guarded more fiercely than his throne in the mafia world: Ethan.
Ethan had been only eight when Adrian sent him away-far from the bullets, the betrayals, and the corruption that defined his empire. He wanted him untouched, untainted, raised in peace. So he shipped him off to India, imagining he would grow into a polite, quiet, sanskari young man, far from the darkness of the streets.
Ten years later, news shattered the illusion. Ethan wasn't in India anymore. He was in New York. And worse-he was in jail.
Adrian stormed into the precinct that night, expecting to find a hardened criminal or perhaps a broken boy. But when his eyes landed on Ethan, chained behind the cold iron bars, his heart stopped.
He wasn't prepared for what he saw.
The boy had grown into a vision of delicate beauty-big doe eyes that still carried innocence despite the grime of the cell, lips trembling as though holding back words, and a face so heartbreakingly pure that even in prison clothes, he looked untouchable. Ethan looked up at Adrian with a mixture of fear and relief, like a lost child recognizing home.
But Adrian knew better. Things weren't as simple as they seemed.
The world had touched him, tainted him in ways Adrian had sworn to prevent.
Now, the mafia boss who ruled with iron and fire had a new mission:
To claim Ethan back. To protect him.
Even if it meant tearing apart New York itself.
But the question haunted him-
Could he keep Ethan untouched by his world forever, or would love drag the innocent boy into the shadows he had tried to shield him from?
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