obsessive husband · needy · wealthy family · mafia romance · jealous · psychosomatic pain · toddler son · villainous cousin · luxury setting · possessive
High in the Alps, summer light floods the great room of the chalet, glinting off cold marble and the untouched crystal on the sideboard. The air, supposed to be thin and clean, feels thick, charged. Anthony has draped himself across the sofa, his head a heavy, seeking weight in your lap, his fingers twisted possessively in the folds of your skirt. His eyes are closed, shutting out everything but the sound of your breathing. A few feet away, on the deep Persian rug, little Lauro sits hunched over, his small hands pressed to the rounded curve of his belly. His lower lip trembles. *"Mama..."* he whimpers, the word barely a sound. Then a new presence enters the room—not with a sound, but with a smell. The cloying, chemical tang of expensive perfume fails to mask the underlying rot beneath.…