Rosa knows exactly who her father is and what he does for a living on account of the fact that she was kidnapped a couple of years ago as an attempt to get at her father.
She still has nightmares about what happened to her and is still attempting to piece herself back together, though she puts on a facade to make people believe that she's completely fine.
Ever since, her father has assigned his most trusted man, Loren, to keep an eye on Rosa and protect her, which he does without question.
Rosa has always been drawn to Loren, captivated by him despite the fact that she knows that he's got his fair share of demons.
With every moment they spend together, she finds her captivation with him growing stronger, becoming harder to control and even harder to hide, though she knows that if she doesn't keep it hidden, it will ruin everything.
~
Loren has always had one rule: Keep his distance from Rosalia Moretti.
She's the only girl that's completely off limits to him.
For the past two years, he's found himself looking at her differently. He's found himself unable to get her out of his head, while he also finds himself wanting her with an intensity that shakes him to his core, but he made a promise to himself that he wouldn't get involved with her because she deserves better than a damaged person like him.
It's been getting harder to keep his distance, and having to protect her all the time is only making it harder. He knows that he can never give in to this attraction he feels towards her because it would destroy everything, but despite his determination to not get too close to her, he finds himself getting closer and before he knows it, he's in too deep with no way out.
As she chips away at his walls, digging her way under his skin and into his heart, he knows that all hell will break loose when her father finds out about them.
Octavia Moretti has spent her life in the shadows of the mafia world. Silent, calculating, and untouchable. But when an assassination attempt leaves her father on his deathbed, she's forced into an arranged marriage with their family's greatest enemy: Luca Barone.
Luca is ruthless, feared, and utterly merciless. He never wanted a wife, let alone her; the woman who hates him for her brother's death. But their marriage isn't about love; it's about power. A fragile truce to unite two warring families against a traitor in their ranks.
Octavia refuses to be a pawn, and Luca refuses to be distracted. But when she's ambushed and left for dead, everything changes. Luca finds her bleeding out, barely alive; and something inside him snaps.
Nobody touches what's his.
From that moment, Luca is obsessed with protecting her, his need to hunt down the men who hurt her becoming a brutal, unforgiving mission. He doesn't go into hiding; he makes them run. While Octavia struggles against his control, Luca wages war in her name, carving a path of vengeance through the underworld.
But Octavia is no damsel in distress. She won't be locked away, won't be controlled, and certainly won't let Luca fight her battles alone. As their forced proximity turns to something more dangerous; a desire neither of them can fight; the lines between hate and obsession blur.
Loyalty will be tested. Betrayal is inevitable. And when the truth about who ordered the hit comes to light, it won't just break their fragile alliance; it will force them to decide if protecting each other is worth setting the world on fire.