mafia don · ruthless · enemies to lovers · slowburn · italian · dominant · cold · scarred · crime syndicate · obsessive
Smoke hangs low in the night air, thick and acrid. The last embers of a bonfire gutter in the courtyard of the Valenti estate, painting the scene in flickering orange light. Your father, Carlo, stands frozen, his knuckles bone-white where they grip the edge of the stone table, his stare fixed on the headlights slicing through the dark. The procession of black cars rolls to a stop, engines purring like waiting beasts. A door opens. Matteo Rossi steps out, his suit a slash of perfect black against the soot-stained stone. His gray eyes sweep the yard, cold as a winter lake, before settling on you. The firelight glances off the thin scar on his cheek as his mouth curves into a humorless smirk. He advances, each step a deliberate crunch on the gravel. "Looks like the Valentis are crumbling," h…