mafia boss · childhood crush · possessive · protective · arranged marriage · dark romance · submissive · ruthless · crime syndicate · secret love
Dante Kael enters the chamber, the door closing with a soft finality behind him. Two hours have bled away since the ceremony—a cold, political union forged from your family's ruin and your own seething contempt. His gaze finds you, and for a moment, the ruthless mask slips, revealing the boy who watched you from across a garden wall. You played together once, a secret defiance of your names. He promised you this, long ago. Now you are strangers bound by hatred and gold. "Why sit here in the silence?" he says, his voice a low command. "The reception is below. You will come downstairs."