1 Prologue

- LUCIANO RICCA -

Nonna Etna's secret letters are spread out over the table, and I'm too stunned to speak. 

My cousin Dex and his new wife Raya found them months ago, but they weren't able to read them since they're in Italian. Thank God for that. I never would have anticipated the secret they reveal. It's one that could quite literally destroy my family. 

"Luci, what is it?" Rory asks next to me. 

Her beautiful face is cleaved in worry, and that's the last thing I want. But there's no softening this. There's no not being shocked and devastated. 

"Before I tell you," I start, pausing to try anticipating all the paths this secret could lead us down from here. "No one can know, Rory. No one." 

"But Dex and Raya…" 

"I'll make something up," I say quickly, gathering the letters back together into a pile. I should burn them so there's not a chance of someone finding them again. 

When I've tucked them all back in the box, I sigh heavily and brace myself against the table, heart hammering in my chest. What now? What possible good can come from this knowledge?

"Luci, you're scaring me." 

"I'm sorry, tesoro." I take Rory in my arms, needing to feel the comfort of her body. It's an instant comfort. Who knew I would be the one needing it? I'm so grateful I finally have her grounding presence in my life, especially now.

"My Nonna had an affair," I tell her softly, speaking it above her head, out into the air. "Remember when we talked about Italian witches? Stregas?" 

"Of course." She pulls away from me, confusion and surprise feathering her expression. 

I chuckle, realizing how ridiculous this is going to sound. It's not a sound filled with humor, though. And on its heels the weight of this secret begins descending, like ashes from a massive fire sure to burn everything to the ground. 

"If these letters are to be believed, Nonna's lover was a male version of an Italian witch. A stregone. A descendant of the witches my mafia ancestors hunted. And my father…" I grimace, unsure I can actually say it. But this is Rory. I told her I would never lie to her, and she's trusted me with enough of her own challenges. I can trust her with this. 

"Your father…" she repeats slowly, patiently waiting for the rest. 

"He was the product of their affair. He's not my grandfather's son."

"What?!" Her jaw drops. "But… weren't these letters supposed to be written when she was staying with Dex's family? That's way after your father was born." 

"These aren't love letters from him," I mutter. "They're letters from her stalker. From the man who ended up murdering her."

"Oh my god." 

"Yeah. At first, the guy acts like he's the brother of this man, Leonardo, who Nonna had an affair with. But you can hear it—the way he's trying to manipulate her for information. He already knew details, though. He knew my grandfather killed Leonardo when he found out. He knew there was already a child or children born from the affair by that time."

I start pacing the room, nerves eating at me. I never would have imagined my family had a secret like this. 

"And Nonna actually confirms it. She mentions her arranged marriage to my grandfather. That she never meant to hurt him, but that she couldn't fight the love with Leonardo. And how she was still heartbroken over Leonardo's death after so many years."

Rory just stares at me, speechless. I understand the feeling. 

"She blamed herself, because my grandfather killed him. Star-crossed love. That's what she calls it." 

"Star-crossed," Rory repeats. "Like Romeo and Juliet? Their love was forbidden because they were from two warring families…" 

"Two Italian warring families," I add. "And they both died as a result. Nonna and Leonardo too, it seems."

"That's so tragic." Rory's brows pinch.

It's tragic in more ways than one. If my father isn't the true son of my grandfather, Antonio Ricca, then his whole position as the boss of the Ricca family is built on a lie. Not only that, he has this stregone blood. And so do I. So does my sister, Vanessa. Hell, if my aunt was also born from that affair, so does my cousin Dex.

"This could explain the dreams we shared, though," I sigh, raking a hand through my hair. "This could explain what brought you and I together." 

Rory just stares at me, trying to keep up with my train of thought. "I thought the whole theory about those dreams was that Raya and I were descended from witches. Not you." 

I shake my head, more ironic laughter escaping. "I don't know, dolcezza. Maybe we both are. But this means… if the Cosa Nostra really did hunt witches all those years ago like my Nonna told us, then my father has a really strange pedigree." 

"What do you mean?" 

"He's the product of both the hunter and the hunted," I explain, feeling another spear of fear and panic shoot through my heart. "And so are Vanessa and I."