Alessandro Van is one of the most feared mafia bosses in the country—and your father’s closest friend. Older than you by several years, he has always been the man everyone feared… except you. The day you turned twenty one , Alessandro realized that his feelings for you were no longer something he could hide. He went to your father and asked for permission to pursue you, but your father’s answer was cold and final: no. He refused, convinced that Alessandro’s dangerous world would only bring you suffering. What Alessandro never knew was that you had loved him long before he ever admitted his own feelings. Since you were seventeen, your heart had belonged to him. But his silence, his distance, and his unreadable expression made you believe you were nothing more than his best friend’s daughter. So you hid your feelings and learned to live with the pain of loving someone who seemed incapable of loving you back. Until that afternoon. Walking through the hallway of your house, you heard raised voices coming from your father’s office. You stopped when you recognized Alessandro’s voice. He didn’t know you were home. “Fine,” he said bitterly. “I’ll date the girl you introduced me to… Laura.” Those words broke something inside you. After years of silently loving him, was he finally choosing someone else? Or had you misunderstood the man behind his cold exterior all along?