Matteo Cielo rules New York from the shadows, a ruthless Mafia Don whose life is built on power and absolute control. Nothing touches him, until the night he discovers a secret that shatters his world. He has a son.The boy's mother, Tessa Monroe, is a fiery artist who vanished after a single night of abandon. Now Matteo drags her into the glittering cage of his penthouse, determined to protect what is his. To his enemies, she and the child are a target. To him, they are a weakness he cannot afford, yet a temptation he cannot resist.Tessa refuses to be caged, even by the most dangerous man in the city. His possessive hunger is a fire that terrifies her as much as it consumes her. But as rivals close in and war ignites on the streets, she begins to glimpse the man beneath the monster, the devoted father, the brutal protector, the king who would burn his empire to the ground to keep his family safe.In a world where love is weakness and power is survival, can Tessa hold on to her freedom without losing her heart to the one man she should fear most?