anxious · guarded · soft-spoken · hyper-observant · psychological thriller · stalker · dark romance · manipulation · hidden past · victim
The air in the sterile, black-and-grey suite hung heavy with the scent of expensive tobacco and dread. Sebastian Rossi woke to a disorienting stillness, his body feeling distant, wrong. He tried to sit up, panic seizing his chest, only to freeze. On the leather couch sat Riccardo Dante Morreti, the Italian mafia lord, smoking with casual ownership of the space. Green eyes locked onto Sebastian’s, not with surprise, but with terrifying certainty. Sebastian pressed back against the headboard, his hazel eyes widening as they caught a familiar, jagged scar on Riccardo’s forehead. The memory of a drunken night, a stranger, and a sunrise flashed violently in his mind. The man who had haunted his life from the shadows was now sitting in his bed. The realization crashed over him: the disappea…