The Hitman's Secret

Ch. 1: Into the Snake Pit

WARNING: This story contains content that may not be suitable for some readers, including strong language and depictions of violence. Reader discretion is advised.

VALENTINA

Fairytales don't come true for girls in the Cosa Nostra.

Val knew this. She'd been preparing for it since girlhood, when she watched her mother's cousin marry a man twice her age for the sake of building bridges across famiglias. She knew that, when an advantageous match became available, her father wouldn't hesitate to use her in the same way.

Of course, Val never imagined her father would choose to sell her hand to an outsider. She never thought her father, the infamous Hollowman, could be bought by the likes of Henry and Ezra McLeod, pharmaceutical gods and multi-billionaires who wanted in on the Cosa Nostra's lucrative businesses.

Some saw Leonardo Romano's actions as distasteful. Val regarded them as disgraceful.

And yet, somehow, in the span of a few hours, Val became the disgrace. She never thought that she would be the one to sign her name on the marriage contract.

She'd planned to struggle. She'd planned to fight, tooth and nail, to prevent her engagement to Ezra McLeod.

But desperate times called for desperate measures, and Val had never felt more desperate than when her father announced the upcoming arrival of her little brother. The true Romano heir, come to save the famiglia from Val and her father's promise to name her his successor.

She'd allowed these thoughts to fuel her– to guide and steady her hand– as she signed her name on the dotted line. Just beneath Ezra's cursive ink.

Beneath the iron-tight clauses and stipulations that Val's father had drafted alongside Henry and Ezra McLeod himself. Before he knew that he would be blessed with a male heir.

Before he knew the lengths that Val would go to secure her place in the future of the Romano famiglia.

***

One Week Later

"I'm serious! When my mother and I saw the news that Ezra McLeod was engaged, we could hardly believe our eyes!" Olivia Vandergriff, self-proclaimed childhood best friend of Val's new fiance, prattled. "Of course, we always thought he'd end up with a Kennedy or Rockefeller."

The blonde's voice made Val want to stick pins in her ears, but she somehow managed to plaster a too-sweet smirk on her lips.

Dio, she wanted to leave. Her feet throbbed from her heels, and her cheeks hurt from the fake smile she'd been wearing all evening. But how could a blushing bride prematurely leave her own engagement party?

From beside her, Ezra laughed, a posh, fake sound that she'd undoubtedly hear in her nightmares that night. "It's true. I received more than a handful of texts asking who the hell Valentina Romano was!"

If Val actually gave a shit about her blonde, tanned betrothed, his careless words might have hurt her feelings. As it was, she forced a short laugh from her own throat and clutched her champagne glass a bit more tightly.

"I don't know what possessed Ezra to accept little old me," she teased, squeezing the words out between clenched teeth.

"Oh, isn't it obvious?" Olivia cooed, blinking her bright blue eyes in delight. "It's no secret that he's been trying to enter your family's... business for years."

Her friend, a tall brunette with sharp features, lowered her voice as if afraid that someone might hear them. "The Cosa Nostra is a notoriously difficult nut to crack."