de Elite Series

The sound came from the clock of the Torre dell'Orologio striking the hour. It was six o’clock in the morning, and it only made the buzzing in my ears worse. In a hazy daze, half drunk, with messy hair, smudged makeup, my long black coat and my black Louboutin pumps, I walked across St. Mark’s Square in Venice.

The square was deserted, but in the distance the gondolas were slapping against the quay, rocking back and forth on the rough water. Judging by the sky, rain was on its way. I walked farther away from the square, in the direction of the restaurant where we had dinner with the group last night, and crossed the bridge. 

In front of me, the Louis Vuitton boutique loomed up. It was dark; the entire shopping street was dark and empty. I found myself in an abandoned ghost town.
And suddenly I realized it was Sunday.
When I tried to take another step and walk down the stairs of the bridge, Bill caught me in his arms. I looked into his beautiful gray eyes and said:
"Hey show-off, nice to see you!" He shook me back and forth and kept shouting:
"Mara! Wake up, what happened?"
Then I closed my eyes and woke up in the hospital, with Fabbio, Bill, Andreas, Eric, Ann, and Karen beside me. There was no trace of Carmen, Bas, or Lorena.

While I was tidying up, I remembered that I wanted to take some childhood photos of my brother and sister with me.
We could Skype every day, but our childhood photos were my most precious possessions, just like having a very loving brother and sister.

 So I opened the very last drawer of the sideboard, where my mother kept her expensive porcelain and photos. Her porcelain was there collecting dust, but our photos were neatly stored in a pretty little box. I opened the box and took a few photos of the three of us together.

Then my eye fell on a very strange book. All the pages were yellowed, some torn out, and when I picked it up, three still-sealed letters in envelopes and a house key fell out. All three were addressed to my mother. I opened the book, and on the first page there was a date from thirty years ago. Out of curiosity, I took everything with me to my room.
I leafed through it, and the sentence that stood out to me the most was: They say blood is thicker than water, but sometimes your deadliest enemies are your closest family members.

That was reason enough to read the contents of this book with even more interest. Within a few hours I had almost finished it, until I reached the pages that had been torn out, making the story impossible to read. I was stunned by what it contained...

It was only a diary... It was only a matter of time before it would be found... And with it, all the demons from the past rose back to the surface...

Mara grows up in picturesque Brunate, a small town on Lake Como. There, a group of women has joined forces and devoted itself to dark practices that cannot bear the light of day. One day, Mara discovers that her own mother is part of this mafia-like club. 

After this shocking news, young Mara sees it as her mission to infiltrate the group and find out exactly what this cult-like gang is involved in. 

But it soon becomes clear that the club is gaining more control over her than she could ever have imagined. 

During her search, she falls not for one, but for two boys, whose presence turns her life completely upside down. 

Will Mara succeed in completing her mission, or will she ultimately choose love?