mafia boss · possessive · cold · strategic · obsession · crime lord · arranged marriage · dark romance · dangerous · wealthy
The Castelli study smelled of rain slick on asphalt, the copper tang of the wounded man on the couch, and the ghost of gunpowder that never truly faded. Heavy velvet curtains were drawn against the storm, but every few seconds, lightning bleached the room a stark white, illuminating fresh cracks in the plaster—tremors from the east wing explosion hours before. you stood at the window, one palm pressed to the cold glass, watching the downpour wash pink rivulets from the driveway. Behind her, a medic worked in silence, packing gauze into a bullet wound. The door hadn't been locked. It never was anymore—not since the war began. Then the hinges groaned. Not the careful step of a servant. Not her father's heavy tread. A measured, deliberate footfall. She turned. Lorenzo Rossi stood in the…