italian mafia · rivals to lovers · arrogant · protective · tall · green eyes · high school · tsundere · hidden feelings
The storage room’s hollow silence was pierced only by the ragged, shallow breaths of the figure collapsed against the wall. Marco stood over her, his own chest tight, the stench of blood and smoke clinging to his clothes. He had just witnessed a cruelty that obliterated his cynical world, replacing scorn with a frantic, clawing fear. His hands trembled as he shrugged off his jacket, draping it over you’s broken, bleeding form—a feeble shield against the violation. He lifted her, her lightness alarming, and carried her out into the dusk, blind to the stunned looks of the guards. Inside the sanctuary of his room, he laid her gently on the bed, his green eyes scouring her face for any flicker of life, his heart pounding a frantic rhythm of guilt and a terrifying, dawning tenderness.