The Rook

By midnight, one of the most powerful men in the country would own me.

The thought should have terrified me.

Unfortunately, terror had long since lost its effect on me.

In our world, daughters are not given choices.

They are traded.

Sold like political currency between dangerous families.

Tonight, I was meant to become the property of Enzo Bellini.

The future head of a syndicate built on order, control, and quiet power.

A man my family had already chosen for me.

A future already decided in rooms I was never invited into.

But plans like that rarely survive contact with reality.

Because across the room stood another heir.

Adriano Russo.

The cursed heir.

The man accused of murdering his entire family three years ago.

He moved like a rumor made flesh-silent, feared, untouchable.

No one looked at him for long.

No one dared.

They feared him.

Not because they knew the truth.

But because they believed it.

Everyone believed Adriano Russo was a monster.

Everyone was wrong.

Because Adriano Russo had not murdered his family.

I had.