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"You need my help, Tesoro. You choose. A marriage with me or be torn apart by them" His voice was cool as though this wasn't a matter of life or death. I didn't want this life. My father had gambled a lot and left me with a lot of enemies and now I needed the help of Don Vincenzo LaRosa who was my high school bully and now the Don of the most powerful mafia family in Italy if I was going to survive it. It was just a marriage of convenience but I realized something. He wasn't helping me out of a good heart. I had been sold without my permission to him. I was the mafia's pawn.
Chapter 1 ADRIANA'S POV
"What the hell is this?" I muttered exasperated as I peered down at the dim screen of my phone in the dark alleyway, my tongue stuck out of my mouth in silent concentration.
It was a bad idea to be here in Italy and it was an even worse idea to be out in an unfamiliar surrounding at 11pm but I was desperate.
"Your father is alive and was spotted at Corso Della Vita" The anonymous text read. I had rushed all the way from New Jersey where I was holed up for the past 5 years and rushed back to Italy to see if the rumors were true. Was it really true that the man who I thought to be dead for the past 6 years was still alive?
I almost tore my hair in frustration as I stared at the dead end I had arrived in. Was this just a ruse? My heart had begun to pound...holy shit... was this a trap? Oh Lord, I didn't even want to wait to find out.
Shit shit shit! I knew that it was too good to be true but I was so desperate that I had flown the long hours to Italy based on a text that I couldn't even trust. Fuck, I was stupid.
Turning around, I pocketed my phone in the damp pockets of my black jacket just as rain began to shower down, my fingers wrapped around the comforting pepper spray in my pocket. It would be useless if I was going against guns but it was worth a shot.
Walking forward in the eerie lonely alleyway, I constantly tried to make sense of the shadows lurking in the corner while the rain just seemed to blur my vision even further. I wasn't going to wait around for anything again, I was going straight to the hotel to get my things and I was leaving back to New Jersey in the morning. This was a stupid thing to do but there was no changing it.
"You!" A loud harsh voice sounded and my heart skipped a beat as I stopped in my tracks, my gaze falling on the three bulky men standing a few feet apart, they were nothing but blurry images but I knew they weren't here to escort me back to my hotel.
Shit! They found me.
There was no way around them, I would have to go through them and even though I couldn't see them properly, I knew that they would have weapons on them. So much for having a pepper spray.
My legs began to stagger back, the tennis shoes getting logged with the water that swooshed about as I dragged my feet backwards, fear paralyzing my body as I did nothing but watched the men approach
"Please..." I heard myself whisper as they got to me, their ugly faces lined with contempt as they surrounded me.
"Finally. Rossi's very daughter! We've looked for you for years" One of them said, his voice above the thunder, hatred in his voice and his face hard from years of fighting.
I kept silent just as another one wrenched my arm and pushed me to the ground, my hair a wet mess as my tears mixed with the rain that washed down my face. I hated myself for this, I had years to plan on how to react if I was faced with a threat and now, my head was blank because nothing would work, they would kill me.
"I really thought she was dead. Do you think running away could help? We've waited for so long. A debt of 2 million dollars won't just wipe away, girl" Another one said, his voice taunting as he flashed a gun at me.
I sized them up slowly, they could kill me here, there was no one around and the thunder rumbling would be the perfect cover for a gunshot but a part of me knew that they would gain nothing by killing me. Their boss wanted his money back and you could sell me but I would never be able to make 2 million dollars, I barely had enough to live on.
They weren't the only ones looking for me, my father had gambled for years and was owing at least 10 people in millions of dollars and since he was missing and presumed dead, I was the next target, that was why I was looking for him, he needed to settle his debts, he needed to get me out of this mess and tell me that he was sorry for making my life a mess.
"I'm sure you can speak!" The first man said, bending down and roughly grabbing my chin between his gloved hands while I fought back the sob that threatened to wrack through me.
I shut my eyes tightly. This was it. I was going to die when I was just 23 years old. I hadn't even done everything on my bucket list. The thought made me want to burst into tears.
Patiently, I waited for the gunshot and it came with a loud bang and my ears were ringing but I didn't feel any pain. Was this how it felt like to die? I opened an eye in time to see one of the men drop to the ground.
My eyes widened and I almost screamed as two more precise gunshots ran out in the dark dropping the two other men by my side. That was it for me. I screamed, the sound of my voice swallowed by the rumbling thunder.
A lone figure approached me in a black trenchcoat and even though I couldn't see the person's face, my eyes darting to the pistol in his hand and the piercing hazel eyes that stared down at me.
Hazel eyes. That was oddly familiar but I couldn't immediately remember.
The man tilted his head to the side, his hand still gripping the cold metal of his gun, seemingly unbothered by the rain drenching him while I coiled up by the wall, refusing to look him in the eyes.
I heard a soft rustle but I didn't bother to turn to him. He could kill me. I already knew that death was imminent.
"Get up" A deep cold voice ordered but I didn't flinch but I could feel the dark aura around him.
"Adriana Luisa Rossi...don't make me repeat myself" His voice rumbled again and this time I tore my gaze away from the wall to look at him in shock, my heart resuming the race that it was running.
That was my full name. I had stopped using my middle name since I was 16 and only people who knew me when I was younger would remember it.
Who the fuck was he?
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