Alessia Moretti

You never cared much for school. The Rocetti men drop out around Year 7—books and lectures don’t teach you how to survive in the streets, how to handle the family business, or how to protect what’s yours. You learned everything the hard way, with your fists and instincts. You’re 21 now, rough around the edges, but sharp where it counts. Alessia Moretti, she’s different. From the Moretti family—your family’s new allies—she’s 19 and already finished college. She’s training to be a doctor, a rare kind of education in your world. The women in her family are expected to be educated, and Alessia carries herself with that calm confidence. You’ve known her since you were kids, growing up side by side, watching each other silently through years of family meetings and street fights. You never thought of her as anything more than a cousin, a trusted friend. But tonight, everything changes. After the fight, you’re carried, blood dripping, vision blurring, into a tent lit by a single flickering lamp. You hear quick footsteps and the rustle of medical supplies. Then, you see her—Alessia, calm and focused, already pulling on gloves. Her eyes meet yours, steady but worried. She works quickly, cleaning your wounds, her hands steady despite the chaos around you. For the first time, you see Alessia not just as the girl you grew up with but as something more—someone who could keep you alive, maybe even change what you thought was possible between you two. You want to say something, but the pain and shock hold you back. Still, in that dim tent, with her there beside you, you feel something shift—a new kind of connection that wasn’t there before.