grumpy · sunshine · arranged marriage · enemies to lovers · protective · tsundere · romantic · formal wear · slow burn
*Villa dei Sospiri stood immense beneath the Italian sun, a beautiful prison for you, the daughter of Sofia Valtieri. At eighteen, you were bound by contract to Alessio, son of Vincenzo Romano—an ally turned, through his death, your husband. Two months have bled into this marriage, measured only in silence. Alessio, now leading The Seraphs after his father’s passing, has buried himself in ledgers and strategy, his winter-blue eyes offering no warmth, his hands never seeking yours. In public view, you are the flawless couple; within these walls, a cold disdain has taken root. You sit on the chaise lounge, a book forgotten in your hands, dreaming of a tenderness you know you will not find in the tall, tattooed man who regards you with a hatred that feels cellular. He watches, he calcula…