*Chapter 1: The Encounter*

Lila had always dreamed of leaving her small town and discovering the big city, but she never imagined that her first real experience in the adult world would be so... intense.

She hadn’t meant to find herself here, in the heart of a criminal organization. A simple misunderstanding had led her to the job offer at the Moretti household, a family with a respected yet terrifying name in the city.

Sitting in a large office, a room that seemed almost too big for her, Lila wondered how she ended up here. Inside the imposing office of the patriarch, Victor Moretti, the walls were adorned with family portraits, yet the atmosphere remained cold. The room was neat, tidy, but something in the air made her feel like she didn’t belong.

Victor Moretti was not an ordinary man. Lila had quickly learned that he wasn’t just a ruthless boss, but also one of the most influential and feared men in the city. When he entered a room, everyone fell silent.

And today, it was her, Lila, who found herself facing him.

"So, you’re the famous assistant who’s replacing Giulia?" Victor asked in a deep, almost icy voice.Nervous, Lila adjusted her glasses and tried to look confident. "Yes, Mr. Moretti. I’m ready to... work hard to prove that I deserve this position."

Victor scrutinized her from top to bottom with an intensity that would have made anyone else fall apart. But Lila didn’t flinch. She hadn’t taken this job lightly. She needed the money and an opportunity in this complex and difficult world.

"Work hard? I don’t need someone who just works hard," he said, slowly standing up from his chair and approaching her. "What I need is someone who can follow my orders without asking questions. Someone who can handle tough situations."

Lila felt her heart race, but she kept her composure. "I can do that," she replied confidently, though she had a vague idea of what he might mean by "tough situations."

Victor stared at her for a moment, his gaze piercing the air around him, then a faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared on his lips. "We’ll see."

He turned to leave, but before he exited, he turned back to her one last time. "Remember, Lila. No one is safe here. You’ll soon understand that this world doesn’t make any exceptions."

Lila didn’t have time to respond. He was already gone, leaving behind a strange feeling, like something bigger than her was brewing in the shadows.She stood up and approached the desk, observing the scattered papers. Her heart was still pounding faster now. Why did this job feel both exciting and terrifying at the same time?

All she knew was that her journey into this mysterious world had just begun. And there was no turning back.

Lila stood there, her hands trembling, her heart racing in her chest. The door behind her slammed shut with a heavy thud, sealing her decision, sealing her fate. She hadn’t planned for it to go this far. She had thought she could handle it all, but now, the reality was far darker.

Victor\, stoic\, observed every move she made\, every breath she took. He didn’t need to speak for her to know what he expected from her. Lila understood she had crossed a point of no return. If she wanted to leave this place\, she would have to abandon everything\, risk everything. But the words whispered to her on their first meeting still echoed in her mind: *"If you enter this world\, you’ll never leave."*

And now, she understood what that meant.

She slowly turned toward Victor, her eyes burning with newfound resolve. "What do you want from me?"

He didn’t answer right away. His gaze fixed on her, as if trying to read her thoughts, her intentions. Finally, he moved closer, slowly, too slowly, like a predator closing in on its prey. But Lila wasn’t intimidated. She was here for a reason, and she wasn’t about to run now.

-

That evening, as she prepared Luca’s dinner in the kitchen, she heard a door slam violently in the hallway. She froze, a chill running down her spine. She crept closer to the living room door and saw Victor standing, deep in conversation with a man. The man’s face was hidden in the shadows, but his posture seemed tense, even fearful.

“You don’t understand, Victor. Things are no longer under your control. They want your head.” That was the only sentence Lila managed to hear before Victor responded in a calm yet menacing tone.

“No one will take me down.” Victor’s voice rang in the room like a warning, a promise that he had no intention of yielding.

Lila quickly backed away, her heart pounding in her chest. She knew she had just discovered something much darker than she had imagined. But her curiosity, though dangerous, pushed her to find out more.

The next morning, she found herself alone with Luca. The innocence of the little boy contrasted sharply with the world of violence and secrets that seemed to surround his father. But deep down, Lila knew Luca carried mysteries that she wasn’t ready to understand. Every smile from the boy seemed to hide something, a truth he wasn’t ready to share.

Days passed, but the tension only grew. One evening, while Victor was away, Lila found herself wandering through the silent halls of the house. Her footsteps led her to a locked door, a door she had never noticed before. An odd feeling overtook her. There was something hidden behind that door, something Victor didn’t want her to discover.

Her heart racing, Lila quietly searched for a key. She found it in a drawer of Victor’s desk. The key was old, rusty, but it fit the lock perfectly. With almost palpable hesitation, she turned the key and opened the door

Lila felt herself being swallowed by the darkness of the empty street. The cold wind whipped through the narrow alleyways, scattering papers across the ground like ghosts fleeing from reality. She glanced nervously around, hoping that the dim light from the street lamps wouldn’t be too weak to hide the silhouettes of the men chasing them.

Victor, silent as ever, stayed close by her side, every muscle tense, ready to react to the slightest threat. They moved at a frightening speed, and Lila, already exhausted, struggled to keep up. She could feel the adrenaline rushing through her veins, but the fear was still there, knotted deep in her stomach.

"Why... why do they want to catch us?" Lila finally whispered, her voice trembling with confusion and fear.

Victor didn’t answer immediately. His gaze was locked ahead, focused on every shadow, every movement in the dark. Then, in a calm yet menacing voice, he finally spoke.

"Because I’ve escaped them for too long."

Lila furrowed her brow, startled by the confession, but she didn’t have time to ask more. The sound of footsteps grew louder behind them. The men were closer. Much closer.Victor abruptly turned into a side street, pulling Lila with him into a darker alley. The sound of footsteps behind them grew louder, but now, they were faced with a dead end. The alley stretched ahead to a metal door, locked, but just big enough for them to slip through.

Victor pushed her against the wall, his body shielding hers as he kept his eyes scanning their surroundings.

"We don’t have a choice, Lila. We have to go through there," he murmured, pointing to the door.

"But… what about the men behind us?" Lila asked, her heart pounding.

"We have to get past them," he said, his voice firm. "I promise you, I won’t let you go."

Victor moved swiftly toward the metal door and, with a quick motion, retrieved a lock pick hidden under his jacket. Lila, paralyzed by the shock, watched his hands with strange fascination. He seemed so calm, so in control of the situation, but deep down, she knew it wasn’t the first time he’d been in a dangerous position like this.

The door groaned open slowly as Victor pushed it, revealing a small, dark room, barely visible in the night. He gestured for her to enter, and Lila, still stunned by his revelation, had no choice but to follow him.The sound of footsteps grew louder, the voices of the men now unmistakable. They were close. They had almost caught them.

As the door slowly closed behind them, a figure appeared at the end of the alley. A tall man, dressed in a dark coat, stopped just before entering the narrow street. His eyes locked on the door, and he froze for a moment.

Lila felt her heart skip a beat. She turned to Victor, her hands shaking.

"What are we going to do now?" she whispered.

Victor clenched his fists, a new determination on his face. "We wait. They’ll find us eventually, but not here. Not in this place."

Lila nodded, knowing that all she could do now was trust him. She had to believe in him, despite the chaos surrounding them.

Outside, the silence was deafening. It was clear that the search had resumed, that the men were now looking for them in the alley. But they didn’t know Victor had already planned to lose them here.

Time seemed to stretch endlessly.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps echoed, followed by one of the men’s voices breaking the stillness:

"We’ve lost them. No way they’re still here."

A sigh of relief escaped Lila, but it was short-lived. Victor hadn’t lowered his guard. He knew it was only a matter of time before the situation would go south again.

He turned to her. "You’re not safe until I get you away from all this. That’s what they want: to bring me down by touching those I care about."

Lila stared at him, her heart pounding in her chest. "You’re not alone, Victor. I’m with you."

Victor’s eyes locked on hers, and for the first time since they started running, a faint smile touched his lips.

"I know. But that doesn’t make this any less dangerous."