Mafia Princess's Fall, Cartel Queen's Rise

The man I was about to marry was going to kill my father. I just didn't know it yet. I thought my wedding to the ruthless Don, Dante De Luca, was a love match that would finally bring peace between our warring families.

But at the altar, instead of a ring, he revealed our engagement was a lie. It was a long con to avenge his aunt-my own mother-whom my senator father had secretly murdered. Then he shot my father dead in front of me.

I was wounded trying to stop him and woke up his prisoner. The man I loved told me our entire relationship was just "business."

He abandoned me to his new partner, a woman named Isabella, who made it clear I was nothing more than a loose end. He cut off all contact, erasing me completely, leaving me alone as the tainted daughter of a dead drug lord they called 'The Scorpion.'

My whole life was a lie. My mother had been a spy for the enemy family she married into. My father was a monster. And Dante, my fiancé-my own cousin-had meticulously used my love to destroy everything I had ever known.

So I let Alessia Gallo die. I disappeared and became Alma, a ghost in the cartel underworld, determined to finish the mission my mother started. Years later, he walked into my cantina, a man on a mission. He didn't recognize the hardened woman I'd become, and this time, he was the one walking into my trap.

Chapter 1

Alessia POV:

The man I was about to marry was going to kill my father. I just didn't know it yet.

My hand was tucked in the crook of my father's arm, the silk of his suit smooth against my skin. The Scottsdale sun warmed my bare shoulders, and the scent of a thousand white roses hung heavy in the air.

This was it-the moment every girl like me, a cherished and sheltered daughter of a powerful man, dreams of.

My father, Senator Daniel Gallo, beamed at me, his public face as a beloved politician melting away to reveal the proud father I adored. He was my rock, my hero.

And at the end of the aisle, waiting for me, was Dante.

Dante "The Ghost" De Luca.

His name itself was a myth, a story whispered in the shadows of our world. He was the youngest Don the De Luca Family had ever seen, a man who had clawed his way to the top through shadows and whispers.

They said he consolidated his power with a brutality that was legendary even in our world.

His agreement to this marriage, this truce with his family's oldest rival, was seen as a miracle.

For me, it was just love. A desperate, all-consuming love for the dark prince who had looked at me-not at the Senator's daughter, but at me-and hadn't looked away.

My father placed my hand in Dante's.

His fingers were ice-cold. A strange jolt, a flicker of wrongness in this perfect day.

I looked up at him, my heart a frantic drum against my ribs, ready to lose myself in his dark eyes. But he wasn't looking at me.

His gaze was locked on my father. A predator's gaze.

He didn't pull out a ring.

He leaned in, his lips brushing my ear, but the words were not for me. They were a death sentence, whispered into the perfumed air.

"The truce is over, Don Gallo."

My father's smile froze.

Dante's voice rose, no longer a whisper but a declaration. "I am here," he announced, his voice ringing across the stunned silence, "to claim what is owed. A Vendetta for the murder of my aunt, Martha De Luca."

Martha. The name was a punch to the gut. My mother's name. But he'd called her his aunt. My mind reeled, trying to connect two truths that couldn't coexist. The official story was a car accident years ago. A tragedy.

"And for the poison you peddle," Dante continued, his voice ringing with cold fury. "The 'Crimson Thorn' that breaks every code of the Famiglie."

He looked down at my father, a cruel smile twisting his perfect lips. "Isn't that right... Scorpion?"

The world tilted. My breath caught in my throat. I whispered his name, a question, a plea. "Dante?"

Chaos erupted.

A gunshot cracked the serene afternoon air. Men in dark suits, De Luca Soldiers, stormed the pristine white aisle.

Guests screamed, diving for cover.

A man loyal to my father raised a pistol, aiming for Dante. Without thinking, I threw myself at my fiancé, my dark prince.

A searing heat tore through my shoulder.

My father reached inside his jacket. For the hidden weapon he always carried.

A second shot. Louder. Closer.

Dante's gun was smoking.

My father-Don Daniel Gallo, the Scorpion, my everything-crumbled to the pristine white aisle runner. A crimson flower bloomed on the white front of his shirt.

Dead.

Dante's hand clamped around my arm, his grip like iron. He was no longer my lover. He was my captor.

"Take her," he barked to his men.

Tears streamed down my face, hot and useless. I screamed at him, my voice raw with a pain so profound it felt as if my soul were being torn from my body. "Was any of it real? Any of it?"

He finally looked at me then. And the eyes I had lost myself in for months, the eyes I had dreamed of, were nothing but a cold, empty void.

"It was business."