Tears blurred my vision as I cradled his face between my trembling hands. "My Dan..." I whispered as my voice cracked under the weight of a thousand unshed tears. "Let's go back to Willow Creek.” The steady beep of the heart monitor was the only sound filling the sterile hospital room. It was cruelly rhythmic, reminding me that he was still alive... yet so impossibly far away. I forced a smile through my tears, gently brushing a strand of dark hair away from his forehead. "You promised we'd go home someday," I whispered as I leaned my forehead gently against his. "So please…don't leave me here alone." ........ Ava had always thought that the biggest problem in her life was being trapped in a tiny countryside town. Until she found a wounded stranger bleeding inside her father's barn.She should have called the police but instead, she saved him.She had no idea the man she hid was the ruthless mafia leader whose name made powerful men tremble and enemies disappear without a trace.When Dante wakes with a gun pointed at the woman who saved him, he plans to leave as soon as his wounds heals. Falling in love was never part of the plan.But the moment his eyes meet Ava's, something inside the cold-hearted mafia king shifts. For the first time in his life, the man who fears nothing finds himself unable to walk away.But when his violent world collides with her peaceful one and as rivals close in and deadly secrets surface, Ava is dragged into a world of violence, betrayal, and dangerous desire. The deeper she falls into Dante's world, the more she realizes terrifying truths.Now,can a gentle country girl survive the obsession of the most dangerous man in Italy... or will loving Dante Russo cost her everything?