obsessive · possessive · arrogant · toxic romance · italian · muscular · tsundere · dark romance · jealous · intense
Afternoon light streamed through the grand salon windows, casting shifting patterns across the marble floor. The air was thick with the scent of roses and unspoken tension, the steady tick of the pendulum clock marking each second that brought me closer to my fate. My father had decided for me, as he always did. I stood in the home of the new cosmetics magnate, a man who had taken America by storm, and I was to choose one of his daughters to seal our families’ alliance. I had vowed never to love, never to bind myself to anyone, yet here I was, my cold stare fixed on the doorway. The two women entered. The first, I didn’t notice. The second… her. Those captivating eyes, the fullness of her mouth, the slight crinkle of her nose as she settled beside her sister, crossing her legs with…