Sofia Wade

I was the Chicago Outfit's princess, and Luca and Matteo were my sworn protectors. We had mixed our blood at ten years old, promising that nothing would ever touch me. But that oath turned to ash the night Sofia Ricci aimed a Roman candle at my chest. The firework slammed into my shoulder, igniting my silk dress instantly. As I rolled on the concrete, screaming while the flames ate into my skin, I waited for my boys to save me. They didn't. Instead, I watched through the smoke as they rushed to Sofia. They wrapped their jackets—the ones meant to shield me—around the girl who had just set me on fire, comforting her because the "kickback" had scared her. They let me burn to keep her warm. When I woke up in the hospital with permanent scars, they brought me a letter of apology from her and defended her "accident." They even cut their palms to pay her debt, ignoring the fact that I was the one in bandages. That was the moment Elena Vitiello died. I didn't scream. I didn't beg. I simply packed my bags and defected to the one place they couldn't follow: the arms of Dante Moretti, the lethal Capo of New York. By the time they realized their mistake and came crawling back to beg in the rain, I was already wearing another man's ring. "You want forgiveness?" I asked, looking down at them. "Burn for it."

For seven years, I funded my husband Gonzalo's PhD. I paid for everything. A week after our wedding, his young "mentee," Kloe, moved in with us, claiming a rare autoimmune disorder made her "fragile." On our Aspen ski trip, he used my money to buy her an $8,000 handbag. Then, he demanded I give Kloe my high-performance ski jacket because her flimsy one wasn't warm enough. When I refused, he ripped it off my body. I slipped on the ice, hitting my head as he walked away with her, leaving me injured and freezing in the snow. Later that night, he abandoned me again while I was sick in our hotel room, to get a separate room with Kloe. He said they needed to "discuss his academic paper." But he forgot one crucial detail. I'm not just a wife. I'm Captain Amy Payne, U.S. Army Reserve. I called my best friend, a manager at the hotel chain. "I need a master key," I told her. "We're about to crash a very important academic discussion."

The pregnancy test showed two pink lines, and pure joy surged through me. I, Ethan Miller, was finally going to be a father. But then my wife, Sophia, dropped a bomb that shattered everything. "The child isn't yours, Ethan. It's Liam's." The world tilted. My perfect life, a fragile lie built on Sophia' s deceit, crumbled. Tragedy compounded days later: Sophia was in a car accident, a miscarriage. Liam, her lover, was behind the wheel. Then, at a company gala, Sophia, radiant and cruel, seized a microphone. Her eyes, cold and furious, locked onto mine. "My husband, Ethan Miller," she announced, her voice dripping with venom, "is a monster." She publicly accused me of sabotaging her, of causing her miscarriage out of jealousy. The accusation was so monstrous, so far from the truth, I could only stand paralyzed. Her final blow: "I'm making him get a vasectomy. He will pay for what he did to my baby." They forced me into it, stripping me of my rights, my future, my very manhood. I returned home, a ghost in my own house, only to find Liam brazenly occupying my study. He flaunted his victory, mocking my pain, even using my Pritzker Prize as a coaster. Then, he shattered my most prized possession: my mother' s music box. "Oh, that old thing," Sophia said, unconcerned. "It was gathering dust. I gave it to Liam." Something inside me broke. My hand bleeding, heart shattered, I watched Sophia fuss over a supposedly ill Liam. She shrieked, "What did you do to him? What did you put in his drink? You want to take everything from me!" The doctor' s diagnosis: Liam just had a bad hangover. My pain was real, her accusation a baseless lie. Sophia offered a fleeting, empty apology, but the chasm between us was too deep. I decided then: no more. I had to fight back for my sanity, for my future, for myself.

The stale coffee and expensive cologne was a mix I knew all too well-my boyfriend, Mark, was in a good mood, which always meant he wanted something from me. I was deep in the code of my indie game, my passion project, a world that was entirely mine. Then he dropped the bombshell: a "strategic networking event" with his "business visionary" childhood friend, Brittany, whom he clearly admired far more than me. My heart sank as he waved away my concerns about overdue rent and bills-money I' d given him to pay. Not for the first time, he dismissed my "pixels and stories" as not "real business," just as he had dismissed every cent I' d poured into his failing startup. The true blow landed when he sneered, "It's no wonder you can't even do the one thing a woman is supposed to do right. You can't even get pregnant. What good are you?" After a year of desperate hopes and private pain, his words cut me to my core. He was right there, dismissing my worth in the most cruel way imaginable, while spending my earnings to impress someone else. In that moment, everything shifted. I watched him walk out, slamming the door, demanding I leave my apartment-the one I paid for. I was broken, homeless, and worthless, just as he said. But as I looked across the courtyard at my quiet neighbor, Liam' s, light, a flicker of defiance sparked. I had nowhere else to go, but I knew I couldn't stay. That night, I knocked on a stranger's door, ready to reclaim my life, piece by painful piece.

I was seven months pregnant, living a fairytale life as the wife of a powerful Congressman. Julian stroked my belly, whispering dreams of our son' s future, and I truly believed I had it all. Then, a cold dread seized me. I' d just overheard Julian on the phone, his voice urgent, planning to use me as bait for a predatory federal prosecutor. Not for us, but to save his high school sweetheart, the woman he truly loved. My perfect world didn't just crack; it exploded into a million sharp pieces. Every intimate moment, every precious gift, was a cruel, recycled memory from his past with her. In his eyes, I was a mere tool, a sacrifice. My heart pounded a sick rhythm as I stared at the man I thought I loved, now revealed as a calculating monster. The betrayal was an Arctic wind, chilling me to the bone, but beneath it, a burning rage began to smolder. He thought I was a naive girl from the wrong side of the tracks, easily manipulated. He was gravely mistaken. I wasn't his victim; I was about to become his reckoning.

For two decades, Ethan diligently built a restaurant empire alongside his wife, Sarah, fulfilling their DINK pact. He even underwent a vasectomy and publicly claimed infertility, protecting her from family judgment, believing their shared dream was unbreakable. Then, a single legal document shattered his meticulously crafted world: a share transfer agreement for two 10-year-olds, Finn and Belle Miller. A quiet inquiry confirmed the unthinkable – they were Sarah' s secret children, born a decade ago, with her "childhood friend," Mark. Sarah, chillingly, dismissed them as a "platonic favor," clarifying she still didn't want children "with him." Her family sided with her, portraying Ethan as unreasonable. Humiliation deepened at a public party when Sarah announced major company shares would go to Finn and Belle, cementing Ethan's public replacement. The ultimate insult: when Finn lied about Ethan, Sarah, without a blink, slapped her husband, choosing her secret son's word over their twenty years of marriage. How could he have been so blind? He'd sacrificed his chance at fatherhood, endured silent pity and judgment, all for a woman who secretly built an entire, separate life, using his devotion as camouflage. The betrayal cut deeper than any physical wound. With cold resolve, Ethan signed the divorce papers, leaving behind a video revealing the truth of Finn' s lie and Sarah' s unquestioning cruelty. He walked out forever, ready to find a peace she' d never allowed him.

My blood is a secret, a rare healing gift, but in my first life, it sealed my painful destiny. Because I healed Ethan Davenport Jr., an ancient family pact forced me into a miserable marriage with him, a man who despised me and loved the cunning Veronica Sterling. Veronica, in a vicious plot, faked a terrible accident and convinced Ethan that only my special blood could save her. Blinded by his infatuation, Ethan ruthlessly demanded my life essence, forcing me to bleed for her, again and again. I died from exsanguination, my extraordinary power grotesquely twisted into the instrument of my demise. The revelation of Veronica's calculated deception and my husband's complicity was a shattering, unbearable injustice that followed me into the void. But then, I woke up, back on the precise day my tragedy began, granted an impossible second chance. This time, I will not be a victim; I will rewrite my fate, wielding my gift to build a life of my own choosing, far from their shadows.

Tonight, under the spotlight at AuraConnect's 10th-anniversary gala, I was ready to make Jessica, my high school sweetheart and business partner, my wife. We had built a multi-billion-dollar empire from nothing. But as I knelt, ring in hand, her eyes weren't on me; they were glued to her phone, a private smile playing on her lips. Then came her dismissive laugh, echoing through the silent ballroom. "Oh, Liam," she scoffed, in front of everyone, "That's... sweet. But really? Now?" She dismissed our proposal as "awkward," then coolly walked away, texting, towards a handsome model. Later, I overheard her calling me "stifling" and heard her say, "Younger men are just so much more... appreciative." Watching her kiss him, the absolute betrayal ripped through me. How could the woman I dedicated my life to, built everything with, treat me with such casual, public cruelty? My decade of devotion, my love, meant utterly nothing. She truly believed I' d come crawling back, declaring I couldn' t live without her. But she was wrong. I shredded the wedding tuxedo, boxed up all her gifts, and left a note: "Goodbye." Then, I booked a one-way ticket to Boston, determined to build a new life, far from her toxic shadow, and never look back.

I gave it all up. My reputation as "Rex," the undefeated legal titan of LA, my multi-billion dollar cases, the power, the respect. For three years, I was just Ethan Miller, Olivia Hayes's devoted husband, the "house-husband" who cooked, cleaned, and managed her life, hoping she'd finally truly see me. But her world revolved around Julian Vance, her celebrity ex-boyfriend. Every conversation, every decision, every raw emotion was for him. I thought I'd hit rock bottom when she casually bought me a new suit, only for me to realize it was a gift for Julian. Then, at Julian's lavish birthday party, he publicly confessed his "undying love" for Olivia. She cried, heartbroken, while I stood by, dismissed as her "support" and the punchline of a cruel joke. Not once did she defend me. I'd quietly driven myself to the ER after she fussed over Julian's tiny scratch instead of my bleeding, deeply cut hand. I'd listened to her colleagues pity me, calling me a "saint" for tolerating her obsession. But that night, seeing her openly weep for a man who wasn't her husband, after all I' d sacrificed… a freezing clarity washed over me. Why had I wasted three years? Why had I become invisible? How could I have been so blind? My foolish support had only enabled her toxic obsession. When I walked out of that party, I wasn't just leaving Olivia; I was burying Ethan Miller. Rex was coming back, and he was bringing hell with him. Olivia Hayes was about to learn the true cost of underestimating patience, and the man she so carelessly discarded.

The ground rumbled beneath my worn boots as I washed mason jars, a seemingly ordinary afternoon in my quiet kitchen. Then, Martha' s scream, thin and sharp with fear, shattered the peace: my mother-in-law was frozen, having stepped on something deadly in the old quarry land. I called my husband Jack, an ex-Army EOD tech, but his dismissive voice echoed a past life I' d already endured, confirming he was with his mistress Brenda. He laughed, calling me "hysterical," just as he had when his neglect contributed to Martha' s death once before, refusing to believe his own mother was in danger. A cold wave of memories washed over me: his past betrayal, Martha' s agonizing death, and his self-serving contempt, all replaying this horrific scene. Could I really trust him, the man who owed his life to my parents' sacrifice, to save his own mother now when he' d failed so callously? But this rebirth wasn't just a curse; it was a warning. I wouldn't let Martha die again. Drawing on fractured memories of Jack' s EOD training, I stepped onto the live explosive, taking Martha' s place. A sickening click affirmed my choice, marking the moment I chose defiance and survival – this time, things would be different.

My name is Ethan Miller, and my very life was a countdown. Since childhood, a chilling experiment called "Project Chimera" tied my vitality to the genuine love and acceptance of my adoptive family, the Harrisons, and my fiancée, Olivia. My existence hinged on their affection – a high "Resonance Score" meant I lived, a plummet meant I died. For years, I had believed I had it all: a loving home, a woman I cherished, a perfect life. But then Julian, their biological son, returned, spinning tales of suffering, effortlessly manipulating everyone. My Resonance Score dipped, then plummeted, as Eleanor and Richard embraced their prodigal son, and Olivia's loyalty shattered. They turned on me, accusing me of jealousy, ignoring my desperate pleas to expose Julian' s lies, labeling me cruel for questioning their "fragile" Julian. The physical decline was brutal, a constant reminder of their withdrawing love, culminating in Julian's fabricated "life-threatening condition" needing my liver. Olivia, my fiancée, the woman I loved, delivered the cruel ultimatum: save him, or our wedding was off. As I lay on that gurney, about to be carved open for a lie, the overwhelming feeling was not just physical pain, but the crushing realization of their utter betrayal. I was dying, not from disease, but from a profound lack of the love that sustained me, a love they had twisted into a weapon against me. But just as the darkness claimed me on the operating table, a cold, clear voice pierced the void: "Host Ethan Miller: Deceased. New mission protocol initiating. Stand by for host reintegration." Ethan Miller was gone. But something new, something dangerously different, was about to begin.

My father' s Medal of Honor sat on my dresser, a stark reminder of sacrifice. With my mother dying and medical bills crushing us, I agreed to Eleanor Thornton's offer: marry her comatose son, Ethan, for my mother's life. Five years later, I'd raised Leo and Lily, managing the estate. Then Ethan awoke. His first words were a snarl: "She looks like a gold-digger." With his mother and ex-girlfriend Ashley, he launched a campaign of humiliation, twisting my every action. They staged a fake poisoning, making me appear malicious. My defenses fueled their accusations, confirming my supposed greed. Then came the ultimate threat: he'd gain sole custody, declaring me an unfit mother. "Ashley will be the mother to my children." That was the breaking point. I would not lose my children. I wrote to General Markwell, my father' s closest friend, invoking the honor he stood for. The sudden arrival of a JAG officer at our mansion signaled the Thornton family was about to face a power far beyond their influence.

My dad, Marcus Sterling, banished me to a remote Montana ranch after my ill-advised crypto-smoothie investment turned into an SEC headache. I, Ava Sterling, prodigal daughter of a tech mogul, was serving time for a very expensive lapse in judgment. All I wanted was a cell signal, a working phone, and to beg my dad for the G650 jet back home. The ranch, with its endless shoveling and broken fences, felt like a temporary purgatory. Then, on the eleventh morning, a sleek black Escalade crunched up the gravel driveway. A woman stepped out, an older, tired reflection of me, introducing herself as Eleanor Vance, my birth mother. The mother who, according to vague family stories, had vanished when I was a baby. It was an utterly shocking reunion, one I never anticipated. Eleanor quickly swept me into her opulent, yet startlingly cold, life in the city. Her grand house was a blur of shimmering dresses and tailored suits, a world away from my farm attire. My introduction to her husband, Richard Harrison, and her mean-girl daughter, Chloe, was anything but welcoming. "What is *that*?" Chloe drawled, her voice dripping with disdain at my mud-caked boots and ripped jeans. Richard's gaze was ice-cold as he demanded, "Get this… person out of my house." Despite Eleanor's tearful proclamations that I was "the one we lost," I was met with contempt and immediate rejection. The DNA test confirmed my identity, yet their attitude toward me only hardened; I was just an inconvenient truth. Why did this newfound family, after supposedly searching for me for two decades, treat me like an embarrassing relic? Their shock, their anger, their open scorn for me, the daughter they supposedly yearned for, left me bewildered and quietly seething. I, Ava Sterling, who was used to being celebrated, was now their dirty secret, a farm girl to be hidden away. But I wasn't some pitiable charity case; I was a genius accustomed to winning. As I picked up a plate of roast beef, ignoring their stares, a thought solidified: if they wanted a "farm girl" who was easily underestimated, they would certainly get one. This was a game, and I was just getting warmed up.

If it hadn’t been for what transpired on that momentous night, Eva wouldn’t have given birth to her son, Jason. The identity of the father, however, was unknown not only to Jason but also to his mother who didn’t for sure who the father of her son was. Five years later, Eva returned to her hometown and landed a job as a designer at one of the biggest companies in the country, the Dolly Group. Her new fresh new job led her to meet Santosh, CEO of the Dolly Group, an iron-faced devil whose life was shrouded in mystery. On most occasions, he would find himself uninterested by women, but there was something different about Eva that caught his eye.

My marriage to Joshua Caldwell was a prison sentence. I was a Hartman trophy, sold to the powerful family who had destroyed mine. Then I discovered he was cheating. His mistress was pregnant with the child he denied me, and he was stealing my secret song lyrics to build her career. When I confronted him, he called me a spineless liability and threatened to destroy what was left of my family. To make matters worse, a one-night stand with a stranger turned out to be with my husband's brother, Anthony Caldwell-the Don of the city. He knew all of Joshua's secrets and used them to trap me in a twisted game, seeing me as nothing more than an asset. They both thought I was a broken doll they could control. I wrote a song for his mistress, a beautiful execution with a single, impossible note I knew would destroy her voice. She sang it, and now her career is over. Now the Don has summoned me to Chicago, not knowing the woman he thinks is his asset is the one who just burned his brother's world to the ground.

I watched my husband sign the papers that would end our marriage while he was busy texting the woman he actually loved. He didn't even glance at the header. He just scribbled the sharp, jagged signature that had signed death warrants for half of New York, tossed the file onto the passenger seat, and tapped his screen again. "Done," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. That was Dante Moretti. The Underboss. A man who could smell a lie from a mile away but couldn't see that his wife had just handed him an annulment decree disguised beneath a stack of mundane logistics reports. For three years, I scrubbed his blood out of his shirts. I saved his family's alliance when his ex, Sofia, ran off with a civilian. In return, he treated me like furniture. He left me in the rain to save Sofia from a broken nail. He left me alone on my birthday to drink champagne on a yacht with her. He even handed me a glass of whiskey—her favorite drink—forgetting that I despised the taste. I was merely a placeholder. A ghost in my own home. So, I stopped waiting. I burned our wedding portrait in the fireplace, left my platinum ring in the ashes, and boarded a one-way flight to San Francisco. I thought I was finally free. I thought I had escaped the cage. But I underestimated Dante. When he finally opened that file weeks later and realized he had signed away his wife without looking, the Reaper didn't accept defeat. He burned down the world to find me, obsessed with reclaiming the woman he had already thrown away.

I was meant to study law. Instead, the law sold me. My father's debts sold me into a contract marriage with Dante Moretti, the heir to a mafia empire who hides behind a billion-dollar legal empire. To the world, he's the polished, untouchable CEO. Behind closed doors, he's ruthless, demanding, and dangerously irresistible. I swore I'd outsmart him that I'd serve my time and win my freedom. But every kiss feels like a trap, every touch like a dare, and every secret I uncover pulls me deeper into his world. And the longer I stay, the harder it is to remember: Am I his prisoner... or his bride?

I was the Chicago Outfit's princess, and Luca and Matteo were my sworn protectors. We had mixed our blood at ten years old, promising that nothing would ever touch me. But that oath turned to ash the night Sofia Ricci aimed a Roman candle at my chest. The firework slammed into my shoulder, igniting my silk dress instantly. As I rolled on the concrete, screaming while the flames ate into my skin, I waited for my boys to save me. They didn't. Instead, I watched through the smoke as they rushed to Sofia. They wrapped their jackets—the ones meant to shield me—around the girl who had just set me on fire, comforting her because the "kickback" had scared her. They let me burn to keep her warm. When I woke up in the hospital with permanent scars, they brought me a letter of apology from her and defended her "accident." They even cut their palms to pay her debt, ignoring the fact that I was the one in bandages. That was the moment Elena Vitiello died. I didn't scream. I didn't beg. I simply packed my bags and defected to the one place they couldn't follow: the arms of Dante Moretti, the lethal Capo of New York. By the time they realized their mistake and came crawling back to beg in the rain, I was already wearing another man's ring. "You want forgiveness?" I asked, looking down at them. "Burn for it."

Amira Davis was a rising doctor with a bright future, until her stepsister kidnapped her, stole her kidney, and revealed the man Amira loved was part of the plan. Left for dead, Amira leapt to escape her pain... but fate gave her a second chance. Reborn at 18, she returns with one mission: revenge. When she saves the life of ruthless Mafia boss Leonardo Marchetti, he vows to protect her. But as passion ignites and secrets unravel, Amira discovers she's the daughter of Leonardo's deadliest enemy and her entire past was built on blood and lies. Now caught between love and vengeance, family and betrayal, Amira must choose: destroy the man who stole everything or trust him to help her reclaim it all. Revenge runs deep. Love cuts deeper. Start reading now-Amira's war has only just begun.

For five years, I lived a beautiful lie. I was Aliana Hughes, the cherished wife of the city's most feared Mafia Capo and the beloved daughter of the Don. I believed my arranged marriage had blossomed into love. On my birthday, my husband promised me the amusement park. Instead, I found him there with his other family, celebrating the fifth birthday of the son I never knew he had. I overheard their plan. My husband called me a "naive fool," a placeholder to legitimize his secret son. The ultimate betrayal wasn't his affair, but the sight of my own father's car parked across the street. My family wasn't just aware; they were the architects of my ruin. Back home, I found the proof: a secret photo album of my husband's other family posing with my parents, and records showing my father had bankrolled the entire deception. They had even drugged me on weekends so he could play happy family. The grief didn't break me. It turned into something cold and sharp. I was a ghost in a life that was never mine, and a ghost has nothing to lose. I copied every damning file onto a USB drive. As they celebrated their perfect day, I sent a courier with my parting gift: a recording of their treachery. While their world burned, I walked toward the airport, ready to erase myself and start over.

When her father's PTSD leads to a tragic accident, Aria Moretti does the unthinkable-she surrenders herself to Nico Romano, the ruthless man her father wronged. Known as the cold and feared ruler of Chicago's underworld, Nico is a man no one crosses and lives to tell the story. To him, Aria is a debt he intends to collect in full. But she isn't the fragile girl he expects.

On our ninth anniversary, my husband Dominick didn't toast to us. Instead, he rested his hand on his mistress's pregnant belly in front of the entire crime family. I was just a debt payment to him, a ghost in a forty-thousand-dollar gown. But the humiliation didn't end in the ballroom. When his mistress, Chastity, started hemorrhaging later that night, he didn't call an ambulance. He dragged me to the family clinic. He knew I had a serious heart condition. He knew a transfusion of that magnitude could trigger a fatal cardiac event. "She is carrying my son," he said, his eyes devoid of any humanity. "You will give her whatever she needs." I begged him. I bargained for my freedom. He lied and agreed, just to get the needle in my arm. As my dark red blood flowed through the tube to save the woman destroying my life, my chest tightened. The monitors began to scream. My heart was failing. "Mr. Reyes! She's crashing!" the doctor shouted. Dominick didn't even turn around. He walked out of the room to hold Chastity's hand, leaving me to die on the table. I survived, but Annis Myers died in that clinic. He thought I would return to the penthouse and continue being his obedient, silent wife. He thought he owned the blood in my veins. He was wrong. I went back to the penthouse one last time. I struck a match. I let the room burn. By the time Dominick realized I wasn't in the ashes, I was already on a plane to London. I had left my wedding ring in an envelope, along with the medical records that proved his cruelty. He wanted a war? I would give him one.

I was three days away from marrying the Underboss of the Fazio crime family when I unlocked his burner phone. The screen glowed toxic bright in the dark next to my sleeping fiancé. A message from a contact saved as 'Little Trouble' read: "She is just a statue, Dante. Come back to bed." Attached was a photo of a woman lying in the sheets of his private office, wearing his shirt. My heart didn't break; it simply stopped. For eight years, I believed Dante was the hero who pulled me from a burning opera house. I played the perfect, loyal Mafia Princess for him. But heroes don't give their mistresses rare pink diamonds while giving their fiancées cubic zirconia replicas. He didn't just cheat. He humiliated me. He defended his mistress over his own soldiers in public. He even abandoned me on the side of the road on my birthday because she faked a pregnancy emergency. He thought I was weak. He thought I would accept the fake ring and the disrespect because I was just a political pawn. He was wrong. I didn't cry. Tears are for women who have options. I had a strategy. I walked into the bathroom and dialed a number I hadn't dared to call in a decade. "Speak," a voice like gravel growled on the other end. Lorenzo Moretti. The Capo of the rival family. The man my father called the Devil. "The wedding is off," I whispered, staring at my reflection. "I want an alliance with you, Enzo. And I want the Fazio family burned to the ground."

Luca DeLuca was never meant to be a king. Born into one of the most powerful mafia families, he was raised in the shadows of blood and violence-protected, sheltered, and kept far from the world his father ruled with an iron fist. But when Don Salvatore DeLuca is assassinated, everything changes. The empire his father built is now crumbling, threatened by enemies within and outside the family. Forced into a throne he never wanted, Luca must learn to navigate a world of betrayal, power, and brutal survival. He isn't a killer. Not yet. But in the mafia, power is earned in blood-and to lead, he must be willing to lose everything, including the last pieces of his soul. But Luca's battle isn't just against the underworld's deadliest players. It's against himself. As he struggles with the darkness seeping into his veins, a forbidden love threatens to shatter everything. Torn between the woman who makes him feel human and the ruthless empire that demands his loyalty, Luca must decide: Is he willing to sacrifice love for power? Or will love be his greatest weakness? In a world where trust is a death sentence and mercy is a myth, Luca DeLuca must either rise as a legend or die as a footnote.