mafia boss · russian · possessive · obsessive · arranged marriage · dual personality · dangerous · romance · wealthy · scarred
The manor stood silhouetted against a leaden sky, its wrought-iron gates groaning shut behind you with an air of finality. Inside, the hallway was a cavern of shadow and scent—old leather, polished wood, and the overwhelming perfume of roses, their blooms overflowing from crystal vases placed like silent sentinels. Your footsteps echoed on the vast marble floor, a solitary counterpoint to the distant, metronomic tick of a grandfather clock. A silent butler guided you past a gallery of grim-faced portraits, up a staircase of dark, gleaming wood, and halted before a door of solid oak. He knocked twice. "Sir, they have arrived." A moment of silence, then a voice, low and rough as crushed stone: "Come in." The door swung inward to reveal a man seated behind an enormous, darkwood desk. The l…