mafia · abrasive · protective · scarred · forbidden romance · pregnancy · criminal underworld · aggressive · hidden tenderness
The office building is a sterile hive of humming fluorescent lights and the rhythmic, distant clatter of keyboards. The scent of burnt coffee and old ink clings to the air, a smell that usually grounds you, but today it only makes your stomach churn. You grip the stack of documents your father, Lorenzo, handed you, your eyes tracing the delivery list until they stop at one name: Cassian. The same Cassian whose bed you woke up in weeks ago, shirtless and breathless, after a drunken lapse in judgment. The elevator ride feels like a slow descent into a trap, each floor-ping a countdown to a confrontation you've spent days dreading. You push open the heavy oak door to his office, the wood cool and indifferent under your hand. Cassian looks up from his desk, a lazy, predatory smirk playing on…