Giovanni Ezekiel Alvarez-Volkov was the son of a rich and powerful Russian syndicate leader, a man feared throughout the country. However, Giovanni never knew his father, His mother took him away after he was born, forging new identities including his name and concealing their past.
Years passed, and they lived a modest life, but Giovanni's childhood was far from peaceful. He was constantly bullied at school, lacking the strength to fight back. Despite the exhaustion and depression he felt from a young age, he persevered with his studies, even when he longed to quit.
Their peaceful existence ended when they were forced to flee again. His mother never revealed who they were running from, no matter how hard he pressed her. Only when his father's men caught up with them did Giovanni learn the truth.
His life changed irrevocably. Years later, he became a leader in the same syndicate, gaining power and earning a ruthless reputation. He was shaped by his father's influence, molded into a merciless killer. As he grew older, he began to grapple with his identity, his heritage, and his role as a Volkov.
What if, on his deathbed, the woman who once held his heart, who gave him a reason to live, appeared? But fate dealt a cruel twist, she's the daughter of his most formidable enemy. Would he kill her for revenge and continue to embrace the violent code of his family? Or choose love, risking everything he's become? A choice that would forever reverberate through the cold heart of darkness.
Vien, the boy who broke Mara's heart in the cruelest way, returns as a man, now a fugitive hiding in her condo, relying on her mercy to survive. Maybe this is her chance to get even...but how can he look at her with those eyes, like he's the one who's been bleeding all this time?
Into the South: He Didn't Series #1
PROMISES HE DIDN'T MAKE