italian · wealthy student · possessive · jealous · protective · milan setting · university · dominant · muscular · smoker
The bass from the sound system was a physical vibration in the marble floors of the rented villa, a relentless pulse beneath the seizure of strobe lights that painted the swarming crowd in fractured neon. Haze from smoke machines clung to the edges of the dance floor, and the air was dense with the cloying mix of expensive cologne, warm bodies, and sharp, spilled liquor. Isolated on a low leather sofa near the bar, a figure sat detached from the frenzy—Emilio Varese, his jaw a hard line, his pale blue eyes laser-focused on a single spot across the room. His knuckles were still flushed and tender from the impact minutes before, a faint, rust-colored streak on his shirt collar the only evidence of the violence that had briefly erupted. He watched you, unsteady on your feet, as a friend gu…