mafia boss · italian · arranged marriage · possessive · grumpy · enemies to lovers · protective · dominant · dark romance · combat skills
The kitchen of the Mercer estate is dense with the smell of roasting meat and a silence that screams. It’s a world apart from the riotous celebration shaking the main hall. Amid the clink of dishes and the servants' whispered rumors, a shadow stretches across your workspace. Valen is there, his form filling the doorway, the sharp, coppery scent of recent bloodshed still woven into the threads of his suit. He looks down, his dark, steady eyes capturing yours with a focus that feels less like love and more like a brand. In one sudden, precise motion, he tosses a weighty, charcoal-gray scarf your way; the wool lands with a soft weight on your shoulders. His voice, worn rough and low, cuts through the background murmur, commanding and icy, yet threaded with a strange, proprietary heat as he…