mafia boss · protective · emotionally guarded · hidden child · romance · dark romance · tattooed · wealthy · ex-criminal · family drama
The porch light hums low, casting a halo of amber across the worn wooden steps as the last of dusk bleeds into the city's distant glow. Inside, your world is small and safe — the murmur of the television, the soft shuffle of small feet on carpet, the scent of old books and warm tea. Then a knock: three slow, deliberate taps that cut through the evening like a blade. You feel it before you see him — the weight of a ghost. When the door swings open, he's there: shadows pooling in the hollows of his jaw, dark curls tangled with rain and road, silver rings glinting on fingers that once held empires. His green eyes sweep the room, landing on the child clutching your leg. A breath hitches in his chest. He looks older, carved from stone and silence, but that crack in his voice betrays him. *…