CHAPTER ONE

Not for the first time in about ten years, the thirty-year-old Alejandro Hernández, Consigliere of the Hernández family, wished humans could have the opportunity to choose which family they were born into.

At first, he had been proud of the power, wealth and connections that his family held, and was determined to be the next head of the family after his father.

His determination had been unshakable until a couple of years back when an event that was going to be impossible for him to ever forget, occurred.

It made him question a lot of things and wonder if the future he had always imagined for himself was what he really wanted.

There was one thing that he was very certain about though. He didn't want to be in this particular meeting he was currently in.

The familiar smell of Cuban cigars mixed with the scent of expensive whiskey, which hung in the air of the room and had not bothered him in the past, had somehow started to irritate the hell out of him.

He wished he could be anywhere else but that place at that moment, but as the Consigliere, he couldn't just decide not to accompany his father to such meetings.

His grey eyes roamed the dimly lit room as he listened to the low tones of the men gathered around the table.

Tension hung in the air.

The world he belonged to was always fraught with palpable tension caused by the weight of loyalty and betrayal that never went away.

Knowing who to trust was oftentimes difficult in his world.

As consigliere to his family, Alejandro had gotten used to the power plays and deception that were normal in his kind of world but tonight, there was something different.

"Are you certain we should do this, Alessandro?" one of the men asked, his voice laced with scepticism.

Alessandro's voice commanded attention effortlessly as was expected of the head of a powerful family. The Hernàndez family.

As he leaned forward with his intelligent grey eyes gleaming in the faintly lit room, his deep voice dripped with authority. “We have no other choice. The Lorca family is already making moves and we can't afford to be caught off guard."

Alejandro allowed his eyes to drift across the room and landed on the world outside the window.

It was a lovely sunny day, perfect for relaxing on the beach instead of being in a room making plans about retaining the top position of the hierarchy.

As much as he hated his family’s business, he still couldn't help but take a little pride in how the family had managed to claw their way to the top.

It had taken a whole lot of sacrifice and of course, street smarts.

So, it was understandable why the Hernández clan were so bothered by the Lorca family who were trying to push them away from their well-deserved position in the hierarchy.

The meeting eventually came to an end much to Alejandro’s relief and he headed straight home afterwards to prepare for the charity event that was being held that night.

It wasn't as though he was eager to be anywhere else except his house that night but unfortunately, he had no choice.

Even though the Consigliere of the Hernández family hated social gatherings, he knew that they were important for the purpose of making strong connections.

About ten minutes before the time the charity event was to begin, Alejandro Hernández was still taking his precious time in front of the full-length mirror.

It wasn't that the Consigliere was obsessed with his appearance but it was just one of the small ways that he ensured he got late to every event.

He took in his intelligent grey eyes and dark hair which were so much like his father’s. In fact, he was the exact replica of a younger version of his father.

It was his late sister, Francesca, who had shared similar physical features with his mother.

His eyelids fell shut in pain as he remembered just how she had died. It didn't matter how many years had passed since her death. The memory still hurts.

A rival family had killed his sister because one of the Hernández men had murdered one of their own

It was after seeing first-hand how the kind of world he lived in could lead to the loss of things that one held dear that he made a vow to himself to renounce the family business.

The painful memory still had a way of making him furious. As he forced himself back to the present, he realized that his hands were trembling with rage.

He wasn't just mad at the ones responsible for his sister’s death but also mad at his father for not immediately doing away with their crazy world after the death of his daughter.

In his opinion, his father was just like the rest of the other insensitive bastards who cared about nothing but their power and position in the hierarchy.

He would have confronted his father about it all these years but knew that it was going to change nothing. His plan was to play along with Alessandro Hernández's ambitions like the faithful dog he was until it was safe to leave.

After taking a couple of deep breaths, he glanced at the clock and decided that he was already late enough.

He reached the event centre and was pleased to see that the program was just a couple of minutes from ending.

With the little time that was left, he took the opportunity to make small talk with both the elites he knew quite well and the ones he had only heard of.

He also made sure to have a light conversation with the host who happened to be a great ally of his family. His father wouldn't be pleased if he didn't.

It was just when he had decided that it was time to leave that he saw her and for a moment, time seemed to stop.

Alejandro was used to seeing beautiful women all the time and in fact, they usually threw themselves all over him.

The woman who was a couple of metres away from him wasn’t the most beautiful woman that he had ever laid eyes upon but there was just something about her that called to the deepest parts of him

Before he could even think twice about it, he was already strolling across the room, towards the group she was chatting animatedly with.

She suddenly turned her head towards him when he was still a couple of steps away and her golden brown eyes collided with his, leaving him rather breathless.

His eyes never left hers even when he finally got close to the group.

"Hi," she greeted in a voice that was both sultry and confident. "I'm Gabriela.”

It took an embarrassingly long period before he realized that she had her hand stretched out for a handshake.

A nervous laughter bubbled from his throat as he took her hand firmly in his. “I'm Alejandro Hernández and it's a pleasure to meet you, Gabriela."

He resisted the urge to do something as silly as dropping a kiss right in the middle of her tender palm and instead decided to focus on what the group was discussing.

Alejandro fought the urge to skip in excitement when the others departed and it was just both of them conversing.

It didn't take too long to discover that aside from being beautiful in an ethereal sort of way, Gabriela was also very intelligent, witty and also a good conversationalist.

He couldn't help his eyes from crawling down the Pearl necklace on her chest, as he stared critically at her. Slowly noticing the slight pucker of her nipples underneath the dress she was wearing.

He was so entranced by her that he nearly missed the feeling that he was being watched.

“Is something wrong?” she queried when he turned to scan the room.

Alejandro quickly turned towards her with an apologetic smile on his face. “Forgive me. I just felt someone was watching me and unfortunately, I am a very paranoid person.”

“Oh,” she murmured and then gave me an understanding smile. “Trust me, I know exactly what that feels like.”

His brows furrowed a little as he wondered what the hell must have happened to her in the past to cause her to be able to relate to his paranoia.

“You do?” He thought to himself, watching her lips move. Wishing he could spell out those exact words to her but instead, she changed the topic.

“So what is it like in the Clan?” She asked…