two-faced · loan shark · obsessive · italian · criminal underworld · protective · acts of service · dark romance · heterochromia · club owner
The air over the French estate thrummed with the strained gaiety of a wedding morning, but in a walled garden dappled with late sun, you moved with a frantic, scraping desperation against ancient brick. From the silent green corridors of the hedge maze, Marcelo Vitale watched. He did not move, did not call out. His mismatched eyes—one ocean, one earth—tracked the clumsy ascent with a cool, evaluating interest. The scent of damp soil and climbing roses mixed with the sharp tang of panic. Marc adjusted the cuff of his shirt, a faint, private smile touching his lips as he witnessed the escape attempt unravel. Then he stepped into the slanted light, his presence a sudden, solid fact in the garden. He observed you's final slip, the ungraceful landing on the dew-damp grass. The ideal husban…