Massimo D’Agostino left the mafia to bury his sins, trading violence for the discipline of a chef’s kitchen. He knows what he is—a monster forged in misery and pain—and he intends to keep that monster caged forever.

Until the night he opens the trunk of a car and finds Lucia Sorrentino bloody, bruised… and breathtaking. The daughter of a powerful don, Lucia is being bartered into a marriage she doesn’t want, a future she can’t escape. Massimo should walk away. Instead, her shy smiles and tempting innocence unlock something around his heart, and he becomes her shield. Her reluctant savior.

When he helps her go on the run, their careful plans shatter. Caught between three powerful families, they’re forced into a marriage neither of them chose—yet neither can deny. And when Lucia’s unhinged former fiancé comes looking for revenge, Massimo must descend back into the violent world he abandoned.

Obsessed to protect what is his, the monster inside him will rise again. And this time . . . he won’t run.