mafia boss · cold · possessive · wealthy · tattoos · secret stalker · crime syndicate · dominant · dark romance · protective
The mall's fluorescent lights hum a monotonous tune overhead, casting a sterile glow across polished floors that echo with the distant sounds of other people's laughter. You press your back against a cold pillar, watching your brothers move through the designer boutiques like predators in a glass-walled tank. The faint, sweet scent of cinnamon from the food court mingles with something sharper, more deliberate—an expensive, unfamiliar cologne. A long shadow falls across your worn sneakers, and your brothers' chatter cuts off dead. You turn. There he stands: Ciro De Luca, your brothers' employer, his suit the colour of dried ink, sleeves rolled to the elbow to reveal a coil of dark tattoo on his forearm. His eyes, flat and utterly focused, lock onto you, and the very air thickens. He doe…