Mine Forever: A Dark Mafia Romance

Chapter 1 Sonia -Principessa

Looking out over the great expanse of New York City, it's hard not to feel lucky. I have it all. I'm the daughter of a famous mafia boss, Leonio Gavino, and as such, no one will dare to touch me. I also own a million gowns, bags, and pieces of couture. Everything in my life is going swimmingly. So then, why do I feel like such a prisoner?

Walking out to my terrace, I look down over the streets of the city, knowing one thing—I can't survive in this world forever.

To the outsider, I may look like I have it all, but inside I feel like I'm breaking into two. It's hard to be a mafia darling and pretend like everything your family does you're okay with, mainly when that includes murder, drugs, and human trafficking. The truth is, I don't know half of what my father does behind the scenes, and I don't want to know, but I can guess at it based on who he keeps company with. I see the men coming in and out of this building, a skyscraper on Fifth Avenue. I know what being in the mafia entails, even though my father has tried to shield me from most of it. I'm not okay with any of this. And I want out.

But as I peer down over the edge from my palatial terrace, I also know the only way out is through death. I've considered it carefully. As one of Gavino's heirs, the only way to freedom for me, the only way out of this family, is through death. So, I look down at the street below and imagine what it might feel like to fly, to die, to end it all. But I guess I'm not brave enough to go there; I'm not brave enough to take my own life even as I feel like such a captive because I step back from the edge, almost tripping on my Louboutins.

My nanny comes into the room, catching me in the act with a horrified look on her face. She's not my nanny anymore as I'm twenty-six, but she is the one who raised me, and I'll always think of her as Nanny Uliva.

"What are you doing, principessa?" she asks. "You could die out there so close to the edge. What if a wind came and snatched you up?"

"Oh, I was just, um, trying to see the people down below," I lie.

"Come out of the cold," she urges. "You'll catch a cold. Come in." She ushers me away from the terrace and puts a fur stole around my shoulders. "Your father is expecting you downstairs. He's having a dinner party with all his friends, and he wants to show you off."

Tears prick at the corner of my eyes which I quickly push away as I realize it's going to be another night, another party where Daddy parades me around in front of his friends. As his only daughter, he considers me a prize to be sold to the highest bidder. I'm of marrying age now, and if someone from within his circle of friends wants to buy me as a wife, I don't see why Daddy would be opposed. He's set on marrying me off to someone within our mafia family that he trusts, which includes any of his wealthy friends.

I look longingly back to the balcony where just moments ago I thought to take my own life.

It's your only way out. It's freedom.

I know that it's the coward's solution, that I could never do it. But still, a small voice tells me that yes, I could and I should commit suicide.

"Let's go," I say to Nanny Uliva. "I'll walk down with you."

She wraps her arms around my shoulders, shielding me protectively from the cold and the world. I'm lucky to have her guarding me, to have someone who cares.

Just as I reach for the door, though, someone barges in. I'm suddenly looking up at a cold, steel wall of tattooed muscle. He's as big as a tank with a squared jaw and tattoos running up his neck.

"Hey!" I protest. "You can't come in here. This room is off-limits."

But before I know what's happening, he lifts me up and over his shoulder. "Listen, princess. You're coming with me."

What?

A feeling of icy fear shoots throughout my body as I register what he's saying.

This can't be real. Am I being taken?

More men enter the room as Nanny Uliva shouts at them, doing all she can to stop their attack, but her cries fall on deaf ears.

I reach for her as the man takes me away from my room and all I've ever known.

"Uliva!" I cry. "Help me!"

She's kicking and screaming, but our attackers quickly and quietly subdue her. They bind her arms and legs, making this entire thing happen almost silently. But as I'm led down the hallway to the elevator, I do my best to stop the wall of steel from capturing me.

"Let me go!" I cry. "Who do you think you are?"

I kick and hit and bite him. But every one of my moves seems not to deter him. Instead, he leads me swiftly down the back staircase and out to a waiting car.

"Now, princess, are you going to come with me easily or hard?"

I attempt to scream, but he places a piece of material over my mouth, stopping me from making any further noise. Then he puts a blindfold over my eyes.

Oh no.

This is not good.

I'm put into the waiting car, and before I know what's happening am swept off into the night.