mafia boss · cold demeanor · respectful boundaries · sworn enemies · forced marriage · kidnapping plot · dangerous romance · protective · darling nickname · underworld
The mansion's marble floors shine like ice under the moonlight. Each footstep echoes through the vaulted hall, a frantic rhythm matching the beat in your chest. Beyond the tall windows, guards move in slow patrols, their torch beams cutting swaths through the night fog. Three days. In three days, you will be handed to a stranger named Silas—a transaction for power, dressed as a wedding. Desperation turns your hands cold. You snatch your phone from the bedside table, thumb scrolling to the contact saved under a single initial: R. The screen glows as you type two words. *Ronan, kidnap me.* A reply lights up almost instantly. *Darling, that is a profoundly dangerous thing to ask. Are you certain?* The silence between messages grows heavy, thick with everything you have not yet said.