Page 1 of Captured Innocence
PROLOGUE
Weakness: A person or thing that one is unable to resist or likes excessively.
—Oxford Languages
“There was a moment when I laid eyes on you that everything changed. Where your innocence had collided with breathtaking beauty, rendering me incapable of thinking about anything else but you. Wanting you. Craving you. Needing you. And after that day, the need to possess you became intolerable. Some might call my desire a weakness but I knew the difference. You will be my greatest strength. And one day, I will own you.”
—Mattia DeLuca
CHAPTER 1
Sophia
I was fourteen when I met Mattia, the first time I’d also witnessed him killing a man, but it wasn’t the last. On my eighteenth birthday, he saved my life, slaughtering the assassin in cold blood. And both times, I was told he was my enemy, born into a merciless family. Perhaps that’s why for my nineteenth birthday, I decided to go behind my father’s back, indulging in my greatest fantasy, providing a gift that could only be shared once.
My virtue.
With the man I intended on marrying…
“You’re weak, Sophia. You believe in love, the greatest vulnerability of all. That weakness will eventually kill you.”
They were some of the kindest words my father had said to me just before shipping me away to little more than a convent in Paris disguised as a wealthy boarding school for the upper echelon of society. I’d learned within hours of arriving that sexuality was considered a sin. Instead of turning into an obedient girl, both fearing and ignoring my natural urges, I’d embraced them, nurturing my needs with other methods than boys.
I’d become determined to prove my ruthless father wrong, but I’d also listened and observed, refusing to remain a protected, pampered princess. Entering college had allowed me additional opportunities to build my repertoire of skills. It had helped build my self-confidence as well. That’s why I was prepared to enter a club when the nagging voice inside of me told me I shouldn’t.
But I didn’t like following good girl rules.
Still. I had my sights set on lassoing my own Prince Charming, just like my beautiful sister had wished for me. I knew exactly who I wanted, a man so powerful and sensual that I could barely breathe when thinking about the passionate man. Or maybe I should call him the devil in Gucci clothing.
The thought brought a smile to my face and flutters into my stomach. I took a deep breath and gazed at the indulgent golden sign, the name printed in bold lettering in vivid crimson.
Like blood to honor the man who owned the infamous club.
Notorious.
The name suited the sinfully decadent club located in the heart of Rome. The building was ten stories tall complete with a conference center on the first floor, the second taken up with a commercial kitchen and a series of office suites, then several floors of various dazzling clubs housed on every other floor, each one meant for different ages. There was also a rooftop bar and private lounge that I’d heard through rumors catered to fulfilling every kinky desire.
The wicked and wild location suited me perfectly, the need to break out of my shell stronger than it had ever been.
“Look at this crowd,” my best friend Celeste murmured from beside me. “I feel underdressed.”
“You’re beautiful. Stop worrying.”
The entire city street was alive with activity, people dressed to the nines in continuation of a fabulous weekend celebrating life. I took a deep breath, holding in the scents of a city I’d missed for so long, finally breathing out then allowing a smile to cross my face. It was far enough away from my father’s estate that I had no worries I’d be found. In fact, it was in what my papa considered to be enemy territory. I grinned from the thought. The good girl was certainly testing her naughty side.
“Now, you do realize who owns this place, don’t you?” Celeste asked as soon as we stepped onto the sidewalk leading to the hottest club in Rome.
“I haven’t been away that long, girl.”
“I wasn’t certain. Would you look at the gorgeous men? Whew. But if your father finds out, he’ll be pissed.”
“That matters to me why?” I purred as I headed toward the set of velvet ropes keeping the four hundred or so wannabe guests from getting inside. Of course I knew who owned Notorious, one of the hottest bachelors in Italy, his wealth, arrogance, and good looks making him entirely too sexy, and he knew it.
Mattia DeLuca was everything a girl could wish for but nothing she should entertain given his penchant for violence and his refusal to commit to anyone.
Yet as gorgeous as he was, his dark, thick curls accenting his strong jawline and intense dark eyes, he was a reprehensible man, considered a family enemy. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t mind fucking with his mind or teasing him if given the opportunity. My poor daddy would have a cow given my sinful decision, but I was finished with playing the innocent, hapless girl who couldn’t handle herself.
I’d selected Mattia for a very special reason, my decision capable of rocking all of Italy. I hadn’t set out to do that until recently, the day my father had told me in no uncertain terms that I would be married off to the highest bidder on my twenty-first birthday. That had been the last straw, my plan set in motion.