Trials & Tribulations | 18+

Every young girl dreams of becoming a princess someday, doesn't she?

Possibly. But fairy tales also warned that sometimes princesses got trapped in castles. For most of my life, I had only one plan: survive Maria and Luca until I turned eighteen, then disappear. My neglectful "parents" barely seemed to care whether I came home, but one question always haunted me. When the time came, would they actually let me go?

Then Maria and Luca were arrested on drug charges. Just when freedom seemed to be within my reach, within hours it was snatched away again as a secret sixteen years in the making became known. Before marrying Luca, Maria had had a whole other life. One that included a husband and kids. Which she had all but erased when she'd fled while pregnant with her last child. Me.

Enter Mr. Castellucci and his seven sons. They weren't exactly the dashing princes of a fairy tale. But what they were, were dark, imposing, frightening men who had spent fifteen years searching for the child Maria had run away with, and now that they had found me, they had very definite ideas about what happened next. Before I could decide whether I wanted any part of this supposed long-lost family, I was whisked away across the ocean to begin a new life on a lavish Italian estate with eight strangers who were adamant that I was the missing piece they'd been searching for.

I had spent fifteen years wishing someone would notice me, and now that someone had, it was decided I would be the heart of their family. Maybe that was why I didn't notice my dream of freedom slipping away until it was too late.

Because I hadn't been the only one dreaming, the Castelluccis had spent fifteen years dreaming too. One where their missing Principessa had finally come home. And now that they had me, they had absolutely no intention of losing me again.
______
My dark and twisted take on the cliché Mafia, Long-Lost Sister/Daughter, and Found Younger Sibling tropes.