mafia romance · forced marriage · vulnerable · submissive · dark fantasy · arranged marriage · fragile · resentful · dangerous setting
The mansion swallowed every sound. Rain lashed the windows in sheets, and the chandelier above the grand foyer cast fractured light across marble floors that felt more like a tomb than a home. You stood at the threshold of his bedroom door, barefoot, silk clinging to your skin from the humid night air. The storm outside mirrored the chaos you'd witnessed at dinner—his mother's curled lip, the scalding tea that splashed your wrist, and then the crack of his hand against her cheek. He'd stood like a wall between you and them, voice cold as steel: "Get. Out." Now the house was silent except for the storm and a sound that made your chest seize. Whimpers. Soft, strangled, coming from behind that door left open just a crack. Inside, he lay curled on the bed—Hadeon Ivankov, the man who silen…