By Blade, I Protect Summary – Penelope Sky

Last Updated: September 21, 2026

Table of Contents

Introduction To By Blade, I Protect Summary | Penelope Sky

Wolfe, a hulking enforcer with a personal moral code, walks away from Cosa Nostra and offers his blade to a rival family.

He meets Francesca, the don’s daughter, and what follows is meant to be a volcanic, all-consuming entanglement.

But wanting to be protected and wanting to be possessed are two different things, and this book often confuses the latter for the former.

The Quick Summary: TL;DR

Wolfe abandons his mafia family over a moral line—human trafficking—and seeks work with the rival Mancini clan in Sicily.

He starts at the bottom, but his lethal skills quickly make him indispensable as a war brews with yet another family.

Simultaneously, he begins a secret, intensely physical relationship with Francesca Mancini, the don’s daughter.

The book is a fast-paced, gritty blend of mafia maneuvering and an obsessive, “you’re mine” romance that skips the slow burn for an immediate inferno.

Core themes revolve around principled violence, possession as protection, and finding calm in a chaotic world.

By Blade I Protect Summary Penelope Sky (3)

By Blade, I Protect Summary (Spoilers Ahead)

Let’s cut straight to it.

The story is anchored by Wolfe’s personal philosophy.

He’s not a man who suddenly found a conscience; he’s a man who has always operated on a rigid, if brutal, code.

When his former boss crosses into exploiting women, Wolfe sees it as a despicable departure from “respectable organized crime” and walks.

His migration to the Mancini family in Sicily isn’t a redemption arc.

It’s a business move.

What I found interesting, at least on paper, is the central question this poses: can a criminal maintain honor, or is the slide into complete moral decay inevitable?

Wolfe’s answer is a tyrant’s peace. He believes stability comes only through absolute, feared dominance.

The narrative contrasts this with Don Mancini’s old-school, legacy-focused leadership. The plot then becomes a proving ground for Wolfe’s methods.

He uncovers a betrayal by the Lombardi family, reclaims stolen arms through brutal raids, and essentially forces the Mancinis into a war where he is the primary weapon.

This tactical chess match, set against the vineyards and gritty streets of Sicily, is the book’s strongest backbone.

The emotional core is supposed to be his relationship with Francesca. She’s a nurse who stitches up her father’s soldiers, a woman drawn to the very violence she mends

. The book frames their connection as an addiction to danger, a recognition of a fellow “tough fucking bitch.” But this is where the story fractures.

Their romance is built on a foundation of instant, “psychotic” obsession rather than genuine intimacy. They spend the vast majority of their time having sex or existing in a state of tense, unspoken agreement.

The novel tries to convince us that depth isn’t tied to duration, but I never bought the emotional tether between them. It felt less like a meeting of souls and more like a collision of tropes.

The ending doesn’t resolve the mafia war; instead, it delivers a personal ultimatum from Wolfe that he’s done hiding their affair, setting a volatile stage for the next book.

The Players in This Book

Character	Role
Wolfe	A principled but predatory enforcer. He represents a “Force of Nature,” an unstoppable primal energy. His extreme arrogance and “psychotic” possessiveness are his defining and ultimately flattening traits, making him feel less like a person and more like a walking red flag.
Francesca “Frankie”	A mafia don’s daughter and a nurse. Intended to be his “Anchor” of stability, she’s unfortunately two-dimensional. Beyond her profession and stubbornness, we learn almost nothing about her ambitions, fears, or personality, making her feel interchangeable with any other heroine in the genre.
Vincenzo Mancini	The traditionalist Don, representing “The Old Guard.” His cautious, legacy-focused leadership is a compelling contrast to Wolfe’s scorched-earth methods, and his protective relationship with his daughter provides the book’s few moments of genuine, relatable tension.

Layers of Meaning

Theme	How It Plays Out
Principle vs. Loyalty	Wolfe’s entire character hinges on a moral line—he won’t traffic women. This theme poses a meaningful question about ethics within a criminal life, though it gets buried under less interesting physical conflicts.
Possession as Protection	The narrative confuses control with care. Wolfe’s need to own Francesca is framed as the ultimate security, but it often reads as simple domination, lacking the emotional intelligence to make it feel protective.

Penelope Sky is a prolific author in the dark romance and mafia romance spaces, also writing romantasy under the pen name Penelope Barsetti.

Full Title: By Blade, I Protect (By Blade, Book 1)
Author: Penelope Sky
Publisher: Independently published
Publication Date: April 7, 2026
Print Length: 418 pages
ISBN-13: 979-8255289035
Series: Book 1 of 3
Genres: Dark Mafia Romance, Romantic Suspense