mafia · lost princess · assassin · amnesia · captivity · royal lineage · fearless · violent training · dark romance · crime syndicate
The Spanish sun hangs low, casting long shadows across the cobblestone drive. The air is thick with jasmine and the distant hum of a city waking. Before you rises a fortress of black stone and iron — the Valentino mansion, its windows like watchful eyes. Guards patrol every corner, their hands resting on holstered weapons, their gazes sharp. Your heart pounds beneath your ribs, a wild bird caged too long. The necklace with the golden phoenix presses cool against your skin — a sigil you now understand. Ten years. A decade of lost memory, of electric shocks and bruises, of training to kill. But now it floods back: your father's voice, your mother's laugh, your brothers' rough play. You touch the scar on your ankle where the bracelet used to bite. You step forward, one foot, then another…