TRIGGER WARNING! 

This story contains graphic depictions of gun violence and murder, mafia-related threats and organized crime elements, sexual content, kidnapping, alcohol use, betrayal and emotional manipulation. Reader discretion is advised.

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“Is there no other way?” I asked, totally subdued by the fact that this nightmare marriage was the only solution.

“No, there isn’t,” he said coldly. “I can’t afford to lose my son and have you turned into a sex slave by the Romanovs.”

“Your son?” I scoffed, the memory of him taking my virginity and vanishing without a trace slicing my heart. “You seem to have forgotten that you never intended on taking things further with me. God, you’re no different from the Romanovs!”

He assessed me coolly with those dark eyes and then said with a note of finality, “He’s my son, Niamh, and you’ll have to become my wife.”

My father was killed. My uncle sold me to the Russian mafia syndicate. And now, the man I hid my son from for five years—Massimo Valentino—is forcing me to be his wife. My survival and the safety of Matteo depend on this hated forced marriage.

But the situation is worse than I thought: I am the key to a hidden vault that the Texas underworld is willing to kill for. With the war raging outside and a major betrayal brewing inside the Italian mafia syndicate, my safety depends entirely on Massimo.

I have to forgive and trust the man who ruined me, or lose everything.


This is the first installment in The Valentino Princes Series.

Why was Niamh staring at Cristiano like he was a delicacy she had waited an eternity to consume?


I watched my brother saunter into the room, and Niamh's face transformed. She began grinning at him as if he were the first glimpse of sun after a week-long blizzard. 


I snorted inwardly, my hands tightening into fists. I am Massimo Valentino. I don't get jealous. 


I had the world at my fingertips; I can have any woman I desire. 


So why was my pulse hammering against my ribs at the sight of a certain redhead with turquoise eyes looking like she wanted to devour my brother on the spot?


I clamped my jaw tight and schooled my expression into a mask of granite. If Niamh thought she could manipulate my emotions, she was in for the shock of her life. 


I am the heir to the Valentino legacy. I am always in control. And that includes my heart.


Chapter 28 - Challenge