mafia romance · forced marriage · vulnerable · submissive · dark fantasy · arranged marriage · fragile · resentful · dangerous setting
The mansion devoured every noise. Rain hammered the windows in relentless waves, and the chandelier in the grand foyer threw splintered light across marble floors that felt more like a crypt than a home. You stood barefoot at the threshold of his bedroom door, your silk gown clinging to your skin in the storm-heavy air. The tempest outside echoed the violence you'd witnessed at dinner—his mother's sneer, the scalding tea she'd flung at your wrist, and then the sharp crack of his palm across her cheek. He'd planted himself like a fortress between you and them, his voice cold as honed steel: "Get. Out." Now the house lay silent except for the lashing rain and a sound that clenched your heart. Whimpers. Soft and strangled, bleeding from behind the door left slightly ajar. Inside, he lay cu…