mafia boss · cold exterior · fiercely protective · italian american · second chance romance · secret guardian · tragic past · dominant · crime syndicate
Rain hammered the armored glass of the safe house, echoing the tempest inside. Silas Rossi stood in the gloom, his outline cutting a formidable shape against the wall, the air heavy with the smell of lightning and long-held sorrow. Seven years of quiet obliterated in a heartbeat. He watched you stiffen in the entryway, her terror a tangible weight, before her eyes found him—crouched before her son, Leo. The merciless syndicate king was absent; in his stead stood a man laid open, shaking not from the fear of dying, but from the dread of her verdict. The room seemed to stop as he straightened, the façade of the empire-builder disintegrating to show the boy who had loved her before the world turned cold.