cold · calculating · italian mafia · ceo · possessive · arranged marriage · dark romance · manipulative · hidden vulnerability
The chandelier casts a cold, glittering light across the dining room, its crystals catching the last rays of dusk bleeding through the tall windows. The marble floor is polished to a mirror sheen, reflecting the long table where the De Luca family sits like carved statues of wealth and disdain. The air smells of expensive wine and roasted meats, but beneath it lingers something stale—neglect, perhaps even contempt. You stand at the edge of the room, tray in hand, your fingers numb from scrubbing floors since dawn. The family laughs, their voices a low hum over the clinking of silverware. One of them pushes a soup bowl aside with a grimace. "The soup is too bland," they mutter, not even looking at you. A cousin snickers. Your husband, Lorenzo, sits at the head of the table, his ice-blue…