Felicia and Lovina Vargas lost their grandfather when they were 12 due to some bandits who want the Heart of Italia, Italy's greatest and most precious treasure. Lovina and her sister escape only to learn that the bandits killed their grandfather and the Heart no where to be found. Lovina and Felicia are the ones who have it but Lovina doesn't even know what it is let alone Felicia. Now the bandits are looking for the Vargas girls and claim one of them to obtain the Heart since there no longer is a male in the family. However, Lovina comes up with a plan that doesn't require for either of them to live their lives on the run or in fear: she becomes the male heir Romano in hope that the bandits will leave them alone. It does work for 6 years, Lovina Vargas is dead and brother and sister Felicia and Romano are living normal lives in Southern Italy until a Spanish man comes along and everything gets thrown into chaos.

Prologue

"That's it, just sign it." A snake like voice hissed. A dark brown haired girl tiptoed in the shadows towards the door to the dining room as she was coming down for a tomato. She could see her grandfather and someone she never seen before through a creek. Probably someone who wanted to sign a treaty with her grandfather, she thought.

"Yess. Initial here…" The tall man with the same hair colour as the girl slurred. He was drunk. "Let's see… How long have I… Oh I've been with more women than you have that's for sure!" He boomed. Oh yeah he was EXTREMELY drunk this wasn't good. "Yeah, I'll tell you about the really good ones as long as you get out. Heck, I'll give you any woman you want if it will make you go faster."

"Just give me the Heart of Italia and I will." He smirked. She silently gasped. Her grandfather told her that it was Italy's greatest treasure, she didn't see what it was exactly, because she never paid any attention to that kind of crap. He said that it was the source of his power and those who obtained it would be just as powerful as him or at least that's what she heard.

"Sure,sure. R…O…M… Hey! No I won't!" He snapped out of his drunken state and stood up against the stranger. "You'll get them over my dead body! Now I demand you leave!" He snarled. She knew this was going to be ugly. She silently ran off to hers and her sister's room and woke up her sister.

"Felicia! Feli! Wake up!" She shook her sleeping sister but she didn't budge. All she could hear was 'Veh… Veh… Veh…' Shouts were coming from the hallway. She swore under her breath as she was frustrated. Her grandfather told her that if people came to the house and were about to fight him, it was her job to get her sister out and go to the hiding place in the city until he would come find them.

"You're a man of your word, aren't you Rome?" The voice sneered. "I'll be taking a woman of my choice and won't give her or… them back until you give me the heart." They were in serious trouble and they had to run. Now.

"Feli… There's pasta on the window." She half sang.

"Pasta~?" Her sister said in a dreamy voice. She automatically got up and started walking to the window like a robot.

"Look, it's getting away! Quick to the woods to chase after it!" The elder sister was trying to go as fast as she can because the shouting continued and her grandfather screamed in agony. As soon as they were out, Felicia turned around.

"Too tired. Want to sleep.~" She rubbed her eyes and started heading back as soon as her sister climbed out. She had to think fast to get her sister moving.

"There's… There's a monster chasing after us." It didn't budge her. "It's going to eat us and eat the mountain of pasta that's going to the woods!"

"AAAHHH!" She immediately headed for the woods. "Wait! Pasta! Pasta! Pasta run from the monster!" The elder sister had trouble keeping up with her younger sister and normally it was the other way around and she had to drag her sister out of trouble.

"Shit, they got away!" She could hear them even though they went far into the woods. They went over tree trunks, slipped in the mud a couple of times and had to cross a creek to reach the city and in the safe house.

The safe house was more of a cellar as it was underground and the entrance was well hidden in a market, behind a trashed fruit stand that no one bothered to clean as it was rumored to have adders in it, which was far from true although it worked as a cover up.

They were well hidden and kept quiet even though they were both mortified. The elder sister held on to her younger sister for comfort. She was as much as a coward as her younger sister but in times like this, she forced herself to be the brave one in her grandfather's absence. She could hear them above her, shouting in frustration that she and her sister vanished into thin air. One of them wanted to give up on them because they had no value. Then that stranger's voice was heard above them and his tone of satisfaction sent shivers down her spine.

"I want them both alive or at least one. That old coot is nothing to be feared anymore." Then he changed his voice and it froze her body completely. "I found his will before I left. Those two little brats have it. One will make a lovely wife. The other will make a servant."

"Uhh… Boss you hate Rome. Why marry one of his granddaughters? They ain't worth a look." She wanted to shout out, 'I'm far better then you ass wipes.' But she knew better than to endanger herself and her sister. She knew they didn't have the heart and God only knew what he was going to do with him until he got what he wanted.

"That bastard had this damn will jinxed. It says that the Heart of Italia can not be passed on to another as long as a male is alive. That problem: solved. So it is passed on to the next descendants which are the two brats and long story short, I have to make one of them mine to obtain the Heart. Unless if they had a brother, which they don't, the Heart is mine when I find them." Oh God. They were doomed. He killed their grandfather. They have no one to turn to.

'A brother… Huh.' She leaned her sister against the wall and went over to the broken mirror on the other side of the room. She did have her grandfather's looks and with her almost constant scowl, many people did mistake her for a boy. The only thing to tell them otherwise was her gorgeous long dark hair. There was a closet next to her and there was another set of clothes, a grey tunic and black pants and a cloak. She changed into them, found a hair tie and a knife. She took one last look at herself before she made the cut.

The next morning, the word traveled fast about the Turks invaded Italy last night but they weren't able to take their countries' precious treasure. Which created a brief atmosphere of panic then relief. Then it shifted to sorrow. Two people were dead last night, Rome and Lovina Vargas.