𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐈

~Prologue~

-" I'm not in danger. I am the danger "-

______________________________

Twelve years ago...

Unknown POV:

"Don't fall in love with the first man to care for you."

She slurred her words, the sting of the alcohol burning through her words. Her jagged nails dug into the tender skin of my neck and I winced, flinching back. She didn't press, didn't choke me as she had done before. She just held me, held me in her destructive hands as if she wanted me to hear her words. Hear and listen to her words...to let them sink in.

As if the moment of soberness wore off, she looked at me one last time as if she knew it too -knew what she had done and what she will continue to do. But then she released me and walked off, her steps uncoordinated as she bumped into the corner of the counter.

Her words echoed in my head.

And I knew she spoke from experience.

Don't fall in love with the first man to care for you.

That is what she had said.

I wish I listened.

It would have saved me.

It would have kept me alive.

And now even the devil pities me.

But even though he pities me, I am loyal to him. I am loyal only to the King

Because he saved me.

Even when I fell in love with the first man to care for me.

I just wished I stayed loyal.

That would have kept me alive too.

~~~~~

Present time...

Luca Dario Black.

The one everyone fears. Twenty-seven years old and the leader and Don of the second largest, most powerful, and most dangerous Mafia.

The Italian Mafia. La Cosa Nostra. 

It's a brotherhood—a family. Famiglia as they say in Italy.

A billionaire Tycoon in the day...a dangerous crime boss and a cold-blooded murderer by night...and an occasional playboy in his free time.

His entire life has been a race to the top. A constant push and pull of power, balancing the crime with the ego. At what point does the addiction and fight for power become tyranny? Tyrant or no tyrant, his entire life has been spent trying to reach the man no one can touch. 

The King.

In a deck of cards, the King is valuable and powerful. In a book of fairytales, the King is powerful, strong, and envied.

Luca's number one rival. The climb to him has been exhausting but rewarding. Before Luca became the Capo Dei Capi, the boss of all bosses, the La Cosa Nostra was at a measly tenth in ranking. Over the past seven years, he's propelled them to the top, stopping at nothing and no one. Now, he was on the throne, staring up at the King and waiting for the right moment to take it away from him. 

The King is the reason he is second most powerful, not first. If the King didn't exist, it would be Luca on top -rightfully so.

Everyone locks their doors at night and bars their windows because of the King. Because the enemies of the King will do anything to get to him, even if it means killing innocents. Everyone knows what the King is and what he is capable of. But no one knows who he is.

They don't even know if he is he.

Everyone assumed that only a man could obtain that much power and control. His reign has lasted over 10 years now, and everyone hates to admit that the world is a better place when he is in power.

There is order and freedom. Happiness and no poverty. Everyone just has to do what the King says. And that is to obey his every word. Obey and you won't be on his hit list. He eliminated human trafficking and The Black Marke within a few years; he established a world where close to nothing went wrong. 

After a while, everyone just started calling him The King along with his other notorious names. He controls everyone and everything. The Monarch of England even follows his every command.

He owns everyone and everything. Your tax money doesn't go to the so-called "government". It goes to him because he is the government. The ground you walk on belongs to him.

He owns countries. He has the whole world beneath his feet.

Everyone listens and follows his every command and order with no hesitation. The people who do hesitate have their Brains blown out that second. If you are on their hit list, the last thing you will hear before you die is 'Memento Mori'.

"Remember that you will die"

It is a code of morality and the inevitability of death for everyone. Anyone who is a member of that mafia has to get 'memento mori' tattooed on their fist.

It is a sign of utmost loyalty.

People say the King has a tattoo on his neck where a knife scar is placed.

It is a throat slit that goes around his whole neck and is a shade of light red. And the tattoo is at the center, at his Adam's apple.

He should've died with that throat slit...but he still exists.

That's why no one goes against him.

If a man can cheat death, what stops him from commanding it?

It is the only way to identify him, but no one has lived to see it except the only person who communicates with him.

That person is his right hand.

But no one knows him either. They say he lives in the shadows and terminates anyone who hesitates orders and disobeys the King. An assassin and commander of death who serves a King who wears a bloody crown.

Since no one has seen the king, it makes people question if he exists.

But Luca is going to make a deal with the devil whether he exists or not.

To become allies or gain enough trust to deceive the King? We have yet to find out...

~

How was the first chapter??

The chapters will get longer by the next chapter. This was just an intro!

*Edited* (5/7/2021)

Rewritten: 1/1/2022

Second re-write: 3/29/2024