To repay her father’s enormous gambling debt, Ava is forced into marriage with the Moretti mafia family. Fluent in Italian, she quickly sees through the family’s schemes. To protect herself, she pretends not to understand a word of the language, hiding behind the facade of an innocent, clueless girl as she quietly survives in the treacherous Moretti mansion.
Determined to escape her mafia husband with divorce papers in hand, Ava is about to leave when she overhears a secret he reveals in Italian: he would rather have her hate him than ever allow anyone to hurt her.
As the family’s conspiracy, her father’s debt, and an assassination attempt beneath a dazzling fireworks display close in, Ava has no choice but to keep pretending she understands nothing, caught between her husband and his enemies.
Dante believes she is nothing more than an innocent, easy target. What he doesn’t know is that she understands every secret he whispers—and has finally begun to understand the love hidden beneath his cold exterior.
