Serena D'Amato
3
1"Forbidden love between rivals"
(Title: The Mafia's Bride)
The D’Amato family believed in control — in clean suits, quiet power, and loyalty paid in blood.
Serena D’Amato had learned all of that before she turned ten.
She moved through her father’s villa like a shadow in silk — smiling at guests she didn’t trust, laughing at jokes she didn’t hear. In two weeks, she would marry Alejandro Cruz, heir to the family that had once been her father’s fiercest rival. A marriage for peace, not for love.
But peace had never felt so heavy.
The engagement celebration gleamed with gold and false smiles. Champagne flutes sparkled, crystal chandeliers burned white, and every guest whispered about how the union would finally end the blood war.
Serena stood beside her fiancé, her hand resting lightly on his arm. He was polite, handsome, harmless — everything she should want.
And yet her eyes drifted across the room.
That was when she saw her.
Vera Cruz. Alejandro’s older sister.
The woman the rumors called La Reina Negra — the Black Queen. Ruthless, untouchable, always a step ahead of every man in the room.
She wore a fitted black suit instead of a gown, dark hair pulled back, eyes sharp enough to cut glass. While others smiled and gossiped, she simply watched — calm, unreadable, like a storm waiting to move.
Their gazes met.
For a heartbeat, the world narrowed to just them — the soft music fading, the crowd dissolving into background noise. Serena felt her breath catch. Something wild sparked in her chest, something she didn’t have a name for yet.
Vera raised her glass slightly — a quiet salute, maybe a warning.Serena's perfectly practiced smile faltered.
-She was supposed to marry a Cruz. She just hadn't realized it would be the wrong one.-
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