I've only ever loved one man in my life. I gave him my heart when we were just sixteen, and I never got it back. We were so in love, but it wasn't enough. Duty to his family drove a wedge between us. We tried to hold on—secret meetings, hooded glances, and stolen kisses. Proclamations of love whispered into the night. We tried to let our love get us through, but as much as we longed for a life away from everything that stood in our way, we knew it was hopeless. He was the heir to the DeLuca family throne, and I was just the housekeeper’s daughter. Our lives were never meant to intertwine in a tangle of love, passion, and promise. It was his duty to bring the two most powerful families in Sicily together. A deal struck by two fathers with no regard for the wishes of their children. It was a different time, a different place, one where compliance was the only option—anything else was a death sentence. I fell in love with the boy, vowed my heart and soul to the man, and was forced to watch as he became a monster.