Chapter 2 The Blood Oath

Alessia's heart hammered in her chest as the heavy wooden door of the De Santis mansion clicked shut behind her. The air inside the estate was thick with the weight of history-old stone walls steeped in secrets, each room echoing with the lives of those who had walked this path before her. She had been warned, of course. Every step, every breath she took in this house, felt like walking on a knife's edge.

Her wedding night should have been a celebration, a new chapter in a marriage that would solidify alliances and bring peace between two powerful families. Instead, it felt like a sentence, a chain wrapped around her neck that she couldn't escape.

Luca De Santis was already in the study when she entered, his back to her, his tall, commanding frame silhouetted by the firelight that danced in the hearth. He hadn't turned when she walked in, as if her presence was nothing more than an inconvenience. His posture was rigid, his jaw clenched tight, but the weariness in his movements betrayed a man who was more burdened than he cared to admit.

"You're not going to congratulate me?" Alessia said, breaking the silence, though her voice trembled despite her best efforts to sound confident. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife. The opulence of the room-the polished mahogany shelves, the soft velvet chairs, the glint of crystal decanters-did nothing to calm her nerves. This wasn't a home; it was a fortress.

Luca turned slowly, his sharp gaze locking onto hers, and for a brief moment, Alessia saw something flicker behind his cold eyes. It wasn't affection. No, it was something darker, something dangerous. And she wasn't sure if it scared her or intrigued her.

"Congratulations?" he muttered, his lips curling into a half-smile that didn't reach his eyes. "If this were a celebration, I'd be drinking to it. But we both know this is just a formality. A necessary evil."

Alessia's throat tightened. She had expected something like this-cold, businesslike. She had expected nothing more than a partnership of convenience, a marriage based on power and survival. But hearing him speak the truth so bluntly, without any pretense of warmth or pretense of love, struck a chord deep within her.

She stepped forward, her heels clicking softly against the marble floor. "Then why did you marry me?" she asked, the words slipping out before she could stop them. "If we're both here for reasons of business, why not just... stay distant? Why pretend that this is anything more than what it is?"

Luca studied her for a moment, his eyes narrowing, as if weighing her words. He didn't answer immediately, and Alessia could feel the weight of his silence pressing down on her.

"Pretend?" He finally spoke, his voice low and measured. "I don't have to pretend anything, Alessia. This marriage is a chain for both of us. You're bound to me, whether you like it or not. And I..." He paused, his gaze drifting away for a brief moment, as if contemplating something far away. "I don't do well with chains."

A chill ran down her spine, but she refused to let it show. His words hit too close to the truth. Both of them were bound to this curse, this unholy union. She didn't know exactly what had been set in motion when they exchanged vows, but it was clear that the price was steep.

The curse. The reason her family was disgraced. The reason she stood in this mansion tonight, her future uncertain and clouded by something more ancient and dangerous than mafia rivalries.

"I'm not afraid of you, Luca," she said, her voice steady, though the pulse at her throat betrayed her nervousness.

He didn't flinch. His eyes locked onto hers with an intensity that made her stomach flip. "I'm not asking you to be," he replied, his voice a low rasp. "But you will fear what's coming. You'll fear the consequences of this marriage more than you've ever feared anything in your life."

Before Alessia could respond, he turned his back to her again, his eyes returning to the flickering fire. The heat from the flames reached her skin, but it did little to warm the chill that had settled over her.

"There's something you don't understand," Luca continued, his back still to her. "Your father's disgrace wasn't just a mistake. It wasn't just about power or politics. It was a curse, and your family has been paying for it ever since."

Alessia stiffened. She knew the rumors-whispers in the shadows of Bellavita-about her father's downfall. A disgraced consigliere, once feared and respected, now reduced to nothing more than a shadow of the man he had been. But the truth had never been clear to her. Her father had always spoken in riddles, his lips sealed tighter than a vault when it came to his fall from grace. All she knew was that he had crossed a line, and the mafia had turned its back on him.

"A curse?" she echoed, her voice barely a whisper, as though speaking the word aloud might bring it to life.

"Yes," Luca said, his voice dark and unwavering. "The Moretti family has been cursed for generations. You might not know it, but your bloodline is tied to something ancient, something darker than the criminal world you grew up in. And when your family and mine were forced together by this marriage, we sealed our fates."

Alessia's mind raced, trying to piece together what Luca was telling her. A curse? Her family's downfall wasn't just about betrayal-it was something far older, far more dangerous. The magnitude of it struck her like a slap across the face.

"Tell me what you know," she demanded, taking a step toward him. She needed answers-she couldn't stand the uncertainty, the feeling of being trapped in a game where the rules were written in blood, and she didn't even know the language.

Luca finally turned to face her again. His gaze was intense, his jaw tight with frustration. "I don't have all the answers, Alessia. But I know this: Our families have been at war for decades. And when they united through your father's marriage to my mother, a Romani woman placed a curse on our bloodlines. She cursed us to never know peace, to never know love. When the Moretti and De Santis families came together, destruction would follow. And now..." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Now we're living in the consequences."

Alessia's stomach churned, her breath coming faster. "And you think I'm cursed, too?"

"You are," Luca said, his words a cold truth that hung between them. "This marriage was never meant to bring us together-it was meant to destroy us. And that destruction will begin the moment you try to love me."

The words felt like a heavy weight on her chest. It wasn't just a mafia rivalry that threatened them. It was something far worse. Something beyond their control.

She stepped back, her hands trembling. "Then why marry me at all?" she whispered. "If we're both bound to this curse, what's the point?"

Luca didn't answer immediately. Instead, he took a slow step forward, his eyes never leaving hers. "Because, Alessia, we are already too deep in this. The moment your father made his choices, we were bound to this fate. There is no escaping it. But there is one thing we can try: we can break the cycle."

Alessia's heart skipped a beat. "Break it? How?"

Luca's eyes softened for a brief moment. "I don't know. But if there's a way out of this, I'll find it. And I'll need you to help me."

Alessia's mind reeled. She had come into this marriage with nothing but a desire for survival, a desire to protect her family's name. But now, standing before Luca, she realized that survival would require much more than just playing her part.

She would have to face the curse head-on. And if Luca De Santis was the key to ending it, she would have to decide if she could trust him-or if he was the very thing that would destroy her.

The fire crackled between them, its flames a stark reminder that every choice they made would have consequences. The blood oath had been sealed, and now there was no turning back.