Criminal (Mafia)

In the heart of the underworld, there's no room for weakness. Power, loyalty, and deception define the rules, and for Damiano "The King" Moretti, they're the only laws that matter. As the head of the Moretti crime family, Damiano commands fear and respect in equal measure, his rise to power marred by ruthless ambition and calculated betrayals. Once a poor street thug, Damiano now runs one of the most powerful crime syndicates in the world, ruling with an iron fist and a cold, calculating mind. His control over the family, the territory, and his enemies is absolute-until a series of unexpected events threaten to undo everything he has built.Enter Elena Ferraro, a young woman born into a life of privilege and protection. The Ferraro family, long-standing allies of the Moretti crime family, are a bastion of power in the city. Elena, raised to uphold the family name and traditions, is unaware of the darker side of the business that her father, Vincenzo Ferraro, has been involved in. A sudden, violent attack on her father's life sends Elena spiraling into a world she never knew existed, and she finds herself forced into an engagement with the very man who represents everything she's been taught to hate-Damiano Moretti.At first, Elena sees Damiano as the villain in her story-he's ruthless, cold, and every bit the monster she's been warned about. But when she's thrust into the web of deceit and power that the Moretti family has spun, she begins to see the cracks in the empire he has built. Damiano, for all his power and violence, isn't the man he appears to be. Beneath his hardened exterior lies a man torn between the weight of his past and the demands of his present. The same world that made him a criminal also destroyed the one person he loved, leaving him scarred and unable to trust anyone.Despite their mutual hatred, Elena and Damiano are drawn into a dangerous game of survival. As their forced engagement progresses, Elena starts to question everything she knows about loyalty, power, and love. What starts as a reluctant arrangement quickly becomes an intricate dance of manipulation, passion, and betrayal. Damiano sees Elena as a pawn in his quest for more power, while she sees him as the man responsible for destroying everything she's ever known.But as their relationship deepens, they uncover unsettling truths-Elena's father's involvement in illegal dealings runs deeper than she could have imagined, and the Moretti family's true enemies are closer than anyone could have anticipated. Elena is faced with the choice of loyalty to her family or to the man who could either save or destroy her. Meanwhile, Damiano finds himself falling for the very woman he was supposed to control, complicating his mission and threatening the stability of the Moretti empire.Criminal (Mafia) is a dark and gripping tale of power, vengeance, and forbidden love. It delves into the harsh realities of the mafia world, where trust is a rare commodity, and the price of betrayal can be deadly. As Elena and Damiano navigate a treacherous path filled with lies, secrets, and deadly stakes, they must confront the choices that will either make them or break them-both as individuals and as a couple.