The Bastard's Blade
READING AGE 16+
Vera (Alias: Ria)The illegitimate daughter of a mob boss, driven by a toxic cocktail of daddy issues and ambition. While she’s physically capable enough to survive the Salvatore recruitment trials, her greatest weakness is her transparency; she possesses her father's striking features but hasn't yet mastered his "poker face." She is currently a double agent caught in a web where her target is already three steps ahead of her.Charlotte SalvatoreThe keen minded matriarch of the Salvatore empire. Known for her "velvet over a blade" persona, she is a psychological predator who relies on intuition and an extensive intelligence network ("eyes everywhere") rather than just brute force. She is observant, calm under pressure, and clearly enjoys the "cat-and-mouse" game, as evidenced by her immediate exposure of Vera’s true identity.Smart VaneThe underworld “king” and Vera's biological father. His presence looms large as the story's primary catalyst. He is described as a man who views family as a liability, cold enough to discard a child and powerful enough to be worshipped as a "god" by those he abandoned.
Unfold
The roar of the Maserati faded into the squeezed hum of the private jet, but the tension in my chest didn't loosen. We were level at thirty thousand feet, the lights of the Italian coastline disappearing beneath a blanket of clouds.
Dante sat across from me, cleaning a dismantled pistol with methodical, rhythmic strokes. He didn’t look up……
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