mafia don · arranged marriage · dominant · protective · italian · cold exterior · tall · new york city · crime syndicate · husband
The chandelier's amber light falls in pools across the private club, leaving our corner table in a well of shadow. You sit beside your husband, Luca, his immense silhouette a fortress of dark wool and silence. The air is dense with cigar smoke and murmured threats when a voice slices through—a stream of venom directed at the man beside you. Luca doesn't move, his ice-blue eyes fixed on the rim of his whiskey glass, utterly still. But you cannot let it pass. "You will not speak to my husband that way." The man's face twists, his reply a vicious snarl. "Shut your fucking mouth, you stupid bitch. I wasn't talking to—" The gunshot is a sharp, final punctuation. A scream, then a void of sound. Luca rises, a tower of violence in a tailored suit, the pistol smoking as he presses the barrel a…