AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Prologue
I will always remember my first kiss.
Not because it was with my biggest crush or because it was a special moment that I had always envisioned. No, because it was stolen. Stolen by a boy who was never meant to have it. And for that reason alone, my senseless brain will never let me forget it. As it turns out, I am a sucker for all things forbidden.
I was fourteen years old and, in many aspects, your average teenage girl who was possessed by demonic hormones. I snoozed my alarm every morning and had to be dragged out of bed by my mamma. My room never stayed tidy for longer than five minutes and my hair never went the way I wanted it to go. It never mattered how many tutorials or magazine cut-outs I copied. And… I was crazy about boys. No, let me rephrase that. I was crazy about one boy in particular: Davide Acarrdi. He had been my infatuation since I first laid eyes on him—the day he joined my private tutoring group. Yes, that’s right; I was a spoiled, rich, home-schooled child. Not out of choice. I had wanted more than anything to go to a normal school with ordinary teenagers. To have the freedom to mess up, make terrible choices and barely scrape grades once I realised cramming before an exam was the only way I would pass. As the daughter of Northern Italy’s largest and most powerful mafia family’s underboss, the freedom to do as I pleased or go where I wanted was never an option for me. No matter where I went, I was trailed by guards with guns inside their jackets, even if it was just for a stroll with my iPod. My extracurricular activities were severely limited because of my papi, who I loved more than life itself despite his overprotective nature. He had finally caved and allowed me to attend group tutoring classes in Verona because I had made home-schooling a living hell for my family and the teachers.
Davide was supposed to be my first kiss. His name was written all over my journals in love hearts. I had our imaginary kids’ names picked out. I had it all planned. He was having his fifteenth birthday party that weekend and had invited me to attend as his girlfriend! We would kiss at the exact moment that the room counted down his birthday at 9.22pm and then he would fall madly in love with me. Don’t you just love the naivety of a love-struck adolescent mind?
Two days before the party, which I believed would be the most life-changing event of my life to date, I summoned up the courage to ask my papi if I could go without my burly bodyguards that put the fear of God into every man they came across let alone a group of pre-teens. Of course, the answer had been a firm no. My papi was my hero, but at that moment I couldn’t help but hate him for his overbearing parenting methods. Knowing what I know now, you have to be extra vigilant and cautious when you have so many enemies just waiting to tear you down but try telling my hormonal fourteen-year-old self that. After I slipped up and mentioned that Davide was my boyfriend, the iron fist had come down hard and I knew I lost my chance of living one night of my life like any other teenager. It felt like the end of the world as I knew it, even if I always had a flair for the dramatics.
I had stormed away from him just as he was about to enter a ‘business’ meeting with my zio, the boss of our family, and some other equally terrifying men wearing expensive designer suits and only darkness in their eyes. I was not welcome to such meetings. Women, especially young girls, were meant to stay out of sight and out of mind when the whiskey and cigars came out to play.
With enraged tears streaming down my face, I raced out the back doors of my family’s mansion and straight to the small, wooden studio that was my little solace of sanity in the garden. I called it my ‘den’ because my family knew not to bother me when I shut myself away to paint or read alone. Even my papi’s soldiers kept their distance.
Opening the sea-grass coloured door, I stepped inside and slammed it behind me in an attempt to expel the rage and injustice of my situation. The pretty fairy lights that hung across the ceiling were the only source of light against the growing darkness of the evening. It was still enough to make out a tall, dark figure standing in front of one of my canvases with his broad back to me. I froze as I watched the cloudy fog of smoke spiralling into the air while the smell of tobacco mixed with a very musky, woody aftershave filled my senses. I should have left. I should have run back to the mansion and alerted the men, but as the mysterious man turned, I came face to face with what could only be described as the hottest guy I had ever seen and my adolescent hormones betrayed me. I felt too flushed with attraction to move.
Despite his height and broad build, I quickly realised he wasn’t a man at all. He was a boy. Maybe a few years older than me; no older than sixteen. Wearing a black leather jacket with silver zippers and ripped jeans like a rockstar, he was definitely trying to appear older and oozed danger. Trouble looked as though it followed him everywhere… The kind of boy that my papi and fratello were so hellbent on keeping me away from, knowing that was exactly the type of man they were. Yet here one stood in my studio right under their noses and they were none the wiser!
My eyes connected with the lightest blue gems I had ever seen. As crystal clear and glistening as the shallows of the ocean; they were hypnotising. A stark contrast against his golden skin and messy brown hair flopping over one eye. He dug his free hand into his jeans pocket as his eyes traced over me slowly with mild interest. I opened my mouth to scream for help but something stopped me. Intrigue. I should have feared being alone with this boy, I knew that. But I didn’t. Bringing his other hand to his mouth, a cigarette between his fingers, he took a slow drag as his gorgeous eyes narrowed on my face.
“Chi sei? What are you doing in my studio?” I finally managed to find my voice as he continued to study me like I was another piece of artwork in the room. There was no way anyone could get into my family’s estate or even onto the premises without an invite or they would be welcomed with a bullet to the head.
“Why are you crying?” he asked, ignoring my questions completely. My eyes widened as I suddenly remembered that my cheeks were wet with tears that had quickly stopped from the shock of finding this super hot teenage boy in my den. I lifted my hand and hastily wiped my eyes.
“I’m not,” I lied, lifting my chin higher as his brows drew into the bridge of his nose in a frown.
“Well, it’s not raining…” he mocked, nodding towards the small window to the clear night’s sky. I didn’t respond but forced my face into the most fearless scowl I could manage as I stared daggers at him to show him I wasn’t afraid. He smirked, moving his gaze around the room and pointing at my paintings on the wall with his cigarette. “Your studio, no?”
I suddenly wished I hadn’t told him that as his scrutinising eyes flickered over my half-finished oil paintings and drawings, except he looked moderately impressed as his gaze returned to me.
“Sì, and I want to know why you are in here,” I demanded, trying to make my tone firm and confident. He took a step closer to me, his height forcing me to crane my neck slightly.
“I was curious,” he said with a shrug. “Just like I am curious as to what a princess has to cry about?”
He inhaled another drag of his white stick and I narrowed my eyes. My papi often smoked cigars and on a few occasions, I had even seen him offer my older brother, Giovanni, one. I had asked to try it one time but once again, the answer was a stern no. Ladies don’t smoke. One rule for my brother, one much stricter rule for me. That is the way it had always been ever since I could remember.
“Want one?” he asked, holding up the cigarette in one hand. I shook my head, ignoring the inquisitiveness that festered below the surface of my skin. It would be bad enough if I was caught alone with this boy, let alone smoking!
As I held his penetrating gaze, I suddenly felt the urge to offload the unfairness of my life to him. I had no idea who he was and the fact he was a complete stranger made it all the more tempting.
“I want to go to a party with my friends this weekend but my papi won’t let me go,” I mumbled, folding my arms across my chest as amusement danced behind his eyes. He didn’t smile but I could tell I had just made a mistake in telling him.
“Poor principessa,” he chuckled, stepping to the side of me and leaning his back against the wooden wall so we were standing side by side. Shrugging his shoulders, causing them to brush against mine, he added, “There will be other parties.”
Anger flared up inside me once again. “No. There won’t. I’ll never be released from my prison! And this is the most important party. I can’t miss it! Otherwise, I won’t-” I stopped myself from continuing my dramatic rant when I realised what I was about to say.
“Otherwise, you won’t… what princess?” he turned his head to look at me with genuine interest and I sighed, closing my eyes momentarily.
“Get my first kiss.” A deep chuckle erupted from his lips as he shook his head and my eyes snapped open, glaring at him in irritation. “And stop calling me Princess!”
“But that’s what you are, aren’t you? Una principessa mafiosa? Daughter of Vincenzo Buccini, the underboss of Mala Del Brenta?” His blue eyes sparkled so brightly with enjoyment as he raised his cigarette once again to his lips. I grabbed it as it hung between them and tossed it to the floor, stamping it out in anger.
“Hasn’t anyone ever told you smoking will send you to an early grave?” I snapped, as his lips pulled up into a dazzling smile. My heart fluttered at just how pretty he was. A boy as bad as him should not be this pretty. It was sinful.
“That and many other things in my life,” he replied nonchalantly as he reached up for another cigarette that I hadn’t noticed was balancing behind his ear. I grabbed the second one as well, snapping it in half and this time causing his eyes to darken with irritation. “Are you trying to piss me off, Princess?”
“Maybe,” I growled, not backing down. My answer seemed to relax him and the anger dispersed just as quickly as it flared. I exhaled a breath as I realised that I was walking a very thrilling but dangerous line here.
