07/31/2026
HE WAS FORCED TO MARRY THE SHY “UGLY” GODDAUGHTER EVERYONE MOCKED—THEN THE SPOILED MAFIA HEIR DISCOVERED SHE CONTROLLED HIS FORTUNE, SAVED HIS LIFE, AND WAS THE ONLY QUEEN STRONG ENOUGH TO RULE BESIDE HIM
Massimo De Santis expected to inherit two billion euros before lunch.
Instead, his dead uncle left him a wife.
Rain blurred Rome beyond the boardroom windows as the family attorney opened Carlo De Santis’s final will.
Massimo barely listened.
At twenty-nine, he was already known as Rome’s spoiled prince—a beautiful, reckless heir protected from every consequence by the most powerful man in the family.
Across the table, his cousin Enzo waited with the patient smile of someone who had spent a lifetime standing one step behind the throne.
“Carlo leaves his controlling shares, international holdings, and private trusts to Massimo De Santis,” the attorney announced.
Massimo leaned back.
“There. Finished.”
“No,” the attorney said. “The inheritance is conditional.”
The room went silent.
“Conditional on what?”
“A marriage.”
Massimo laughed once.
Then a quiet female voice came from the shadowed corner near the bookshelves.
“To me.”
Massimo turned.
Livia Rossi sat in an old wingback chair with her hands folded over a gray wool skirt.
He had seen her hundreds of times at family dinners and inside Carlo’s library.
She was the orphan his uncle had raised after her father died protecting him. Quiet. Plain. Forgettable.
Thick glasses magnified her amber-brown eyes. A shapeless sweater hid her figure. Her dark hair was twisted into a severe knot.
She looked completely calm.
That irritated him more than fear would have.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
“The attorney asked me to attend.”
Massimo looked back toward the will.
“Explain.”
The lawyer removed his glasses.
“You must marry Livia Rossi within thirty days.”
Massimo’s chair struck the wall as he stood.
Then the attorney revealed what would happen if he refused.
He would lose every company, every trust, and the controlling vote needed to become head of the family.
All of it would pass to Enzo.
Massimo looked across the table.
His cousin was already smiling.
Then Massimo pointed at Livia as though she were an insult.
“You expect me to marry a woman I barely know?”
Livia lifted her eyes to his.
“No,” she said calmly. “Your uncle did.”