Of Monsters, Men, & Moles

There was once a lamb and a big bad wolf.

He's looking for a wife and she's looking for an adventure.

To wolf Antonio Marchesi it was all about winning.

Poor little lamb Callie Rowney didn't even realize it was a game.

As a mafia boss, I'm meant to marry someone in my world. Someone that knows what it's like to run the world. To aid in my betrothal, my father sets up a ball and invites all the eligible women from across the country. One of them will become Mrs. Antonio Marchesi. She will be my wife. We won't be in love, but she will play her role.

Then I see the brunette in the red dress hiding in the corner of the room, trying to avoid me. She was the same woman I'd seen in the garden with her book. She's sweet, innocent, a lamb. I want her. She's totally inappropriate for the role of mafia wife. She's not from my world. Yet I can't stop my eyes from keenly following her around. And on the stroke of midnight, I make my way to talk to her, but she disappears into the night.

* * *

My roommate invited me to a party. I didn't realize it was for a mafia boss that was looking to select a wife. There were hundreds of women there, hoping to win the honor, but he's not my idea of a Prince Charming. He's tall, arrogant, cold, austere, and the most handsome man I've ever seen in my life. They call him Antonio "The Wolf" Marchesi, and the name sends a shiver down my spine. I decided to leave the party before my real identity was discovered. I climbed down a tree, slipped, and he caught me at the bottom. He held me like he didn't want to let go.

He's the head of the Marchesi Famligia: notorious, calculating, heartless. He gets everything he wants, and yet she might prove to be the one person he can't have.