** Bound by Shadows**
In the heart of Italy's opulent underworld, the name Romano is synonymous with power and fear. Kylie Romano, the youngest and only daughter of the powerful Romano family, has always lived in the shadow of her father's empire. After the death of her mother when she was just a child, Kylie's world was defined by her family's expectations and the dark, controlling nature of her protective older brothers.
At nineteen, Kylie is the epitome of softness amidst the harsh reality of her family's world. She longs for freedom and a life beyond the gilded cage that has held her captive. With her father's decision to marry her off to Aldo Alberto Russo-a ruthless mafia heir with a reputation for cruelty-Kylie's sense of entrapment becomes unbearable. Aldo, at thirty-one, is known for his heartless demeanor and his family's legacy of ruthlessness, traits that he shares with his five younger brothers and his formidable father.
Determined to escape the life that has been forced upon her, Kylie makes a desperate bid for freedom. But her brother Dante, the eldest of her five protective siblings, stands in her way, torn between his duty to the family and his love for his sister. As Kylie ventures into the unknown, she finds herself navigating a dangerous world where her family's enemies and her own fears threaten to consume her.
In a journey fraught with danger and heartbreak, Kylie must confront the shadows of her past, the dark promises of her future, and the undeniable pull of her own desires. As she battles for her freedom, she will discover that escaping the chains of her past might be the only way to forge a future worth living.
𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐍𝐄 𝐋𝐄𝐄 is pretty sure her next-door neighbor is a serial killer. What else explains his creepily minimalistic apartment décor, strange antisocial behavior, and that inhumanly emotionless demeanor? Oh, and don't forget the bloody body parts that have started showing up.
It's too bad she's not scared of him. Or his unveiled threats on her life. But an emotionally scarred gangster on the run - riding the brink of insanity and followed by a host of trouble - is a lot more than she could've bargained for.
𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐌𝐎 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐎 is beyond redemption. Capo of the increasingly powerful Romano crime family, the sociopathic Prince of Chicago, hell wrapped in a designer suit. He exemplifies perfect control and restraint. His job has always come easily to him for the very same reason that his name is feared widely: he's incapable of emotion. But something horrifying and sinister is beginning to happen to him.
And it turns out that pesky slipping sanity of his is the least of his concerns. Because his new neighbor is a ray-of-sunshine wildcard dipped in beauty like he's never seen, and she won't leave him alone. Worse, he can't decide if he should kill or protect her.
Massimo doesn't count on Vivienne being the first person to look at him like he's human. Or demons from his past coming back to haunt him. Much less a new threat looming on the horizon.
Or love. Especially not that.
♛
Deviant Prince is a slow burn, enemies to lovers, dark mafia romance with mature content and dark themes. Read at your own discretion.
[ Book 2 in the Romano Brotherhood Series ]