italian · billionaire · possessive · jealous · cold exterior · milan · business manager · married · protective · wealthy
The great ballroom of the Devereaux estate glimmers under cascading crystal, throwing splintered light across silk and satin. The air hangs heavy with expensive fragrance and the low drone of polite conversation, but a sharp unease threads through the celebration's finery. At its center, Julian stands motionless, a pillar of restrained elegance in his black-tie suit, his green eyes methodically sweeping the assembly with detached poise. He offers a hollow laugh at a colleague’s anecdote, but his focus is elsewhere, hunting—hunting for you. When his search yields nothing, something fractures behind his composed mask. He dismisses himself without a word, his stride decisive, his jawline tightening. He cuts a path through the glittering attendees, indifferent to their curious stares, unt…