CHAPTER ONE

ARIES

It's not that I wanted to keep this secret from her. I didn't. The urge to come clean about everything was strong. My reasoning was simple. I knew it'd break her heart and that she'd likely never forgive me. There are things you don't come back from and this is one of them. We all know secrets have a way of coming out, but I was sure this one was tucked safely away. Her brothers would never tell her because the assholes that they are, adore their little sister, since they were the only men living that knew, I was safe. She was safe.

The problem with hindsight is you only see it from the rearview. You never see it coming even if maybe you should have. When you look back, you suddenly see all the red flags glaring at you like a neon sign. Yet, at the time they may as well have been white.

She is everything I never wanted. I didn't want a wife. There was no part of me that wanted to fall so madly in love with Dalia De Luca that I'd never recover. But I did and I haven't. The day she said her final words to me was the day my world stopped turning. I'm a strong man, the head of a notorious mafia family, I don't fall easily. For her I did. She brought me to my fucking knees.