The Viper's Cage (eBook)

Dark Mafia Romance

Alessa Steel (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
250 Seiten
Publishdrive (Verlag)
978-0-00-102546-2 (ISBN)

Infos

Alessio Sokoloff wanted revenge and would have done anything to bring down his enemies. Before, he wanted to kill every single Italian as the Russian Bratva. It was his only purpose since they killed his mother.

That was before Ava Genovese. She was nothing more than a stepping stone as the Italian's princess, only a pawn in his twisted game. Now, he knows there's no life without his other half.

And he'll do anything to get her back.

Ava wanted freedom and found it through her other half, Alessio. She was finally happy and found a family to call her own. Just as quickly, it was ripped away from her. Her wings are stripped away until she yearned for nothing more than death.

Will Alessio be able to save and bring back the girl he fell in love with?

Or were their story doomed from the start?

This is The first Book of the A Bird and her Viper Series, Book 2: The Songbirds Veil.

Textauszug

Ava

God loved the birds, so He created trees miles and miles long for them to fly.

Man loved the birds and created steel cages to trap them.

The tales Mother told me when I was young stayed with me, especially one that pertained to freedom and birds. In fact, my name was, ironically enough, Ava. Latin for Bird. The symbol of peace, tranquility, and faith that my mother had that perhaps one day, we could both be free from the man who placed us in a steel cage. With just enough room to flap our wings and food to live, we sat all day, inside the cage, longing for the freedom.

Freedom would be the last thing I will ever obtain, especially if I am Antonio Genovese's daughter. Known to be the most feared man, and the second Italian family in command of the crime family in New York, I was rendered a nuisance with no good.

The only good I can do, in his eyes, would be to marry into Robert Gaggi's family for a stronger alliance, as both families had been in turmoil of power to take over if Galileo Romano, who is the Italian's boss of bosses' were to pass.

I swallowed as a cold shiver ran through my body at the thought of my fiancé's, Robert's, name. Betrothed to him since I was fifteen, it was a night I could never remember.

The day Mother died, and the day Robert took my virginity against my will to prove I was a virgin. Snapping my attention back onto my copy of Little Women on my lap, I gingerly flipped to the next page as I kept my head drawn down.

My band aided hands and wrists ached whenever I tried to do anything, not that I was even allowed to do much to start off with. Besides sitting in the room with two guards in front of the bedroom where only Father and Robert could enter, I had nothing to do. I wasn't allowed to do anything.

A small window allowed little imagination as of what was on the other side. It was almost as if it was placed there in order to mock me that I could never escape. Shuffling between planned outside events that Robert had planned was the closest I'll ever get to freedom. Even then, I was under the watchful eye of the guards.

I thought I would spend the rest of my life in the cage, destined to be beaten into submission by Robert, destined to always be mute unless spoken to. I've done so for the past twenty-two years of my life. If I was lucky, I won't live till past thirty like my mother.

They may have caged me, but they'll never make me submit. Never break my will. It was the only thing I owned that they couldn't rob from me. It was something Mother never gave up as well. A small smile formed at the thought of her.

Suddenly, the sound of two men echoed the halls and I immediately stilled. The first one was of my father. The second one, I wasn't so sure. It was muffled from a distant, though it was low, thick, and velvetlike. My father never had visitors come into his mansion, unless they were about to be executed or were part of the Italian families. Always serious, and never for the intent of just talking. Imagine my shock to hear Father's laughter echoed the long hall, reaching to my bedroom. It was nervous sounding, not façade.

I knew I had to keep my head down and buried into the book. Unless I was spoken to, I had to look down. It was a way to demean my existence since I was seven, taught young by Father. If I didn't, I would be starved or worse, beaten or taken against my will by Robert.

But like all curious animals, especially that of me, I couldn't help but gingerly sneak a peek. My father never laughed, except maybe when he was torturing someone for information. I wanted to know who was the soul that was able to get a laugh out of him, even if it was one of nervousness.

Finally, both of them passed by the bedroom door. My eyes connected to the man in a black suit. I knew I shouldn't have held his gaze, but I didn't know why I had to look, let alone maintain my eye contact with him. I didn't know who he was, though his grey eyes were alluring and drawing, to say the least.

In a black suit and a white collared button down underneath, it made his red tie really shine through. The gorgeous looking man didn't bother to hide the fact that he was racking my body up and down, though there wasn't much to see in my tattered white dress. He was about in his late twenties, from what I was able to deduct. He was rather tall, buff, and walked with so much dominance and power. His black hair was swept to one side of his face and jawline.

Yet there was something about him that was cold and no doubt, cruel. Anyone that knew my father was either as twisted as him or wanted something from him. There truly was no escaping from the grasp of being an Italian. The lottery of birth had given me the worst of the worst.

He broke eye contact with me, and I quickly glanced back down into my book.

"Ava, this is our guest, Alessio," my father's voice was tight as he flashed me a façade smile. He never introduced me to anyone that came. Then again, he probably did so because his guest, Alessio, was the one who stopped there to look into my bird cage. Father clasped his hands together and I tried not to flinch at the sudden sound. "Introduce yourself."

"Hello," my voice came out rasped and croaked from the lack of talking the last few days since Robert left for some sort of business trip. "It's...nice to meet you, Alessio. I apologize, I don't know what to say about myself."

I bit my tongue at that, hating how the words slipped my mouth.

"Come here and shake hands with him," Father stated through gritted teeth.

I rather not.

I knew he didn't like what rolled out my tongue either, and I knew what was going to come later. Hoping to save myself from the punishment, I slowly raised from my seat and placed the book down onto the table as I made my way to where Father and Alessio was. His eyes darted to the book and then to me, not showing any emotion. My heart stuttered nervously, because I didn't know what was in store for me. For all I knew, it was all a set up and my father was going to allow him to rape me in some sort of sick deal.

Alessio basically towered over me, standing six foot something. I held out my hands that had been wrapped a few days prior, preparing myself not to wince if we were to shake hands. Robert had thought he would teach me a lesson for "seducing" a guard while he was gone. He decided the best course of action was to give me a second-degree burn on my hands, even after I cried and told him he was imagining it. He eyed my wrapped hands with a gaze I couldn't understand.

Then he took my hands into his, almost like I was going to break and bent down to kiss it. I stayed quiet, small goosebumps rippling through my body. Normally, I was scared, downright petrified by something so bold, but his words made me still. "I like good strong words that mean something, rather than meaningless dialogues."

His voice was thick and confident. At first, I didn't know what he meant until I realized I had heard of that line before. I bat my lashes a few times and realized he had quoted from Little Women. Just who the hell was this man?

I meekly nodded, though a wave of emotions filled me to be able to converse with someone. Before I could stop myself, I spoke for the first time without being spoken to. "They say those who speaks their truth own their power. The tongue can give meaning to what the eyes can't make out."

He went quiet for a moment before a small smile formed in his face. It was one that wasn't out of hate, or an interior motive. It was like he understood what I meant, the only intellect I had known in a very long time. "You are a woman with an adequate mind. I would never expect that from an unobtrusive bird."

I narrowed my eyes just slightly. It was probably not noticeable, but something about it bothered me. Perhaps it was the way he called me a bird. It wasn't mocking, though it angered me. His eyes danced in amusement and challenge, as if nudging me. I should be afraid of speaking back, downright terrified, but I couldn't help myself. I swallowed and glared up at him. I could only imagine what face my father was making. "You don't know anything about birds then. My intelligence could rival that of yours, maybe even higher."

When it came out, I practically kicked myself as a flush began to bloom over my face. I didn't know why I had said that. I never acted so bold in a long time. Even when Robert mocked me, I would take it with my head cast down. Before I could muster an apology, he chuckled. It was a low rumble, and again, it wasn't forced or full of hatred. Rather, it was one of amusement. "I couldn't imagine someone would ever compare our intelligence."

"Forgive her, she's usually not like this," Father's nose flared, and I immediately flinched. I willed myself not to tense. It wouldn't be the first time he or Robert would have hit me in front of others, and I knew it wouldn't be the last either. I cast my eyes downwards, ready for my punishment. If I submitted, then the punishment usually wouldn't be that bad.

"Strike her and our deal's off," Alessio jumped in when father took one step towards me. I froze at his words. This was another first. I peered up cautiously to notice Father had...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 19.8.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-10: 0-00-102546-5 / 0001025465
• ISBN-13: 978-0-00-102546-2 / 9780001025462