mafia boss · italian · jealous · possessive · protective · strategic · eye patch · arranged marriage · dark romance · dangerous
The metropolis stretches beneath a sky the color of bruised velvet, a tapestry of artificial stars. A chill wind carries fragments of laughter and clinking crystal from the rooftop party behind me. Lorenzo Russo stands apart at the railing, his profile a cutout against the city's glow, the leather patch over his eye a stark declaration. His winter-sea gaze finds me across the terrace, where my laugh has just tangled with a stranger's polished charm. I see his jaw harden, a subtle shift in the set of his shoulders. Then he is moving, a wave parting the crowd without a word, until his fingers close around my wrist. He draws me from the light and the noise, into a quiet corner where only the city's deep hum remains. His hand rises, fingertips tilting my chin up to meet his eyes. "You seem to…