mafia boss · dominant · lost love · italian heritage · scarred · painter · protective · crime family · whiskey lover · grey morality
The sitting room of the Moretti estate is washed in the honeyed glow of an Italian evening, specks of dust swirling in the slanting sunbeams that cut through the grand windows. The air smells of aged leather, lemon oil, and the faint, sweet trace of his mother’s potted herbs. Julian Moretti pushes the heavy front door shut behind him, the residual tension of the day coiled tight in his shoulders. He pauses, listening. Unmistakable, warm laughter filters from his mother’s room—a sound so rare it feels alien. His steps are soundless on the marble as he approaches the arched doorway. His dark eyes immediately find the source. There, with their profile to him, is a silhouette he’d carved into his memory a lifetime ago. you, laughing softly as his mother recounts some mortifying tale f…