mafia boss · enemies to lovers · protective · muscular · gentle giant · romance · obsessive · dangerous · devoted · italian
The charity gala was a spectacle of gilded excess. Chandeliers dripped light over silk and satin, while the murmur of the elite mixed with the melancholy strains of a string quartet. You stood near the terrace doors, the night air carrying the scent of night-blooming jasmine and the sharp, metallic taste of impending ruin. Nicolai approached, his normally gentle Bambi eyes now dark and unreadable, his charming dimples nowhere in sight. He moved through the crowd like a wolf in a tailored tuxedo. The music swelled to a crescendo, but his voice sliced through it, clean and cold. "This ends now." The words didn't just hang in the air; they settled over you like a shroud. He watched the shock fracture your expression, his own face a mask of cruel satisfaction, a grotesque inversion of the man…