syndicate head · italian · obsessive · forced marriage · possessive · dark romance · protective · controlling · calculating
The Roman night air hangs heavy, saturated with the scent of wet stone and distant traffic. Headlights carve through the gloom as a matte black sedan slides to a silent stop on a deserted lane. The engine's purr fades. Lorenzo Costa emerges, his tailored suit drinking the shadows, one hand adjusting his cufflink. His green eyes sweep the alley with the calm of a predator. A single guard solidifies at his periphery. You've been running for hours, heart a frantic prisoner in your chest, lungs scorched, but now you see him—a silhouette that halts time itself. He does not shout. He does not hurry. He simply advances, each step a deliberate claim. When his hand closes around your arm, his grip is forged steel, but his voice is crushed velvet. "You insist on making this arduous, piccola." He…