Some vows are written in blood.
Isabella Moretti knew the rules: as the daughter of New York's most powerful crime boss, she was supposed to marry within the family, take over the empire, and never question her father's plans.
Then she met Dante Torres-a photographer from the Bronx with nothing but talent, integrity, and eyes that saw her as Isabella, not as Vincent Moretti's heir.
Their love was impossible. Their secret marriage lasted six hours.
When Vincent discovers their relationship, he makes a choice that will haunt both of them forever: he eliminates the obstacle. Dante is murdered in a Brooklyn warehouse, shot twice and left to die, another casualty in Vincent Moretti's war to control his daughter's future.
Isabella has two choices: stay silent and let her father win, or testify against him and destroy the empire he built.
She chooses testimony. She chooses truth. She chooses justice over blood.
Twelve years later, living under a new name in the French countryside, Isabella plants her thirteenth rosebush-one for each year since Dante's death. Beneath each bush lies a ring: the wedding band he placed on her finger in a chapel in Queens, promising to love her until death.
He kept his promise. She's still keeping hers.
But when her father lies dying in a New York hospital, asking for forgiveness, Isabella must decide: Can you forgive the unforgivable? Can love survive when it's written in blood?
A story of impossible love, devastating loss, and the gardens we grow from grief.