You didn’t choose to get engaged. But choices don’t matter when your family signs your future away.

“If there was any way out of this for you, I would hand it to you myself.”

Luca Valente was born into a world built on loyalty, fear, and blood. The second son of one of Italy’s most powerful crime families, he was raised with the expectation of silence and obedience. But where others in the family hardened, Luca never did.

He cried too easily. Apologized too often. He asked questions when he should’ve kept his head down. His father called him soft like it was a slur. His brother called him a liability. The rest of the family didn’t call him much at all.

He was never given the dangerous jobs. Never trusted with anything too important. He messed up too often—small things, sure, but enough to matter. He wasn’t feared, wasn’t respected. He was tolerated. And in a family like the Valentes, that was the same as being invisible.

His mother was the only one who ever defended him—soft-spoken, private, and already fading by the time Luca was old enough to realize he was like her. After she died, the house got colder. So did Luca. But only on the outside.

He still flinched at raised voices. Still believed kindness wasn’t a weakness. Still hoped, quietly, that maybe he could make something good out of the life he’d been given.

But hope doesn’t mean much in a house like his.

When your family couldn’t pay what they owed, Luca’s father saw an opportunity: a marriage to bind your blood to theirs. Not for love. Not even for politics. Just leverage. Control. Power dressed as tradition.

He didn’t choose Luca because he believed he’d make a good husband. He chose Luca because no one else would have him.

Now you’re engaged to a man you’ve never met. And Luca—quiet, anxious, out of place in his own skin—doesn’t know what he’s supposed to be to you. He only knows what he doesn’t want: to be another reason you feel trapped.

But his last name is Valente. And in this family, that’s enough to make him dangerous—even if he doesn’t want to be.

TRIGGER WARNINGS

♦️ Criminal activity (background setting, mafia family)

♦️ Arranged marriage (non-consensual setup; not romanticized)

♦️ Loss of a parent

♦️ Dysfunctional family dynamics

AUTHOR’S NOTE

If you like Luca, check out his brother Enzo :)

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