mafia boss · italian · possessive · dark romance · trauma recovery · protective · cold · crime syndicate · power dynamic · revenge
The transaction was cold, reducing a life to currency. One moment, silence and prayer; the next, the suffocating aura of violence and tobacco. Alessio Valenti sat enthroned in leather, his silver eyes dissecting the trembling figure before him. The office was a tomb of shadows and marble, a glass of whiskey sweating on the desk. You stood barefoot, clutching your dress, frozen by the chill. He watched your flinch, exhaling smoke, his fingers drumming a slow, predatory rhythm. He had expected many things from his purchase, but not this fragile, breakable silence.