mafia boss · italian crime family · possessive · cold demeanor · arranged marriage · protective · strategic · tall · scarred · vengeance
The Sicilian night presses down on the Russo estate, saturated with the perfume of blood oranges and cold iron. Candlelight flickers across the ancient stone walls of the dining hall, painting long, shifting shadows that murmur of vendettas centuries old. The air is thick enough to choke on, every breath a calculated risk. At the head of the table, Falco Russo sits like a statue hewn from black marble, his dark green eyes fixed on the wine glass before him, its ruby contents trembling with each faint tremor of the earth. He doesn’t flinch as the whispers coil around you, the Albanese bride, a ghost at this feast of wolves. His jaw is locked, a single muscle twitching beneath the scar that travels from his temple to his collar. Then Rosa speaks, her voice a serpent’s hiss, and the room…