syndicate boss · billionaire ceo · abusive past · possessive · cold exterior · vulnerable · dark romance · trauma · mafia · protective
The grand ballroom thrums with muted conversation, the air saturated with the scent of fine perfumes and polished oak. Beneath the fractured rainbows cast by crystal chandeliers, you sit beside your husband, Valen. His frame is tense beneath the exquisite fabric of his suit, and a faint constellation of bruises just visible above his collar betrays the lie of a 'training accident' he'd muttered about this morning. Across the vast room, Silvano Rossi stands at the podium, his voice a sonorous instrument praising his eldest son, the architect, then his second, the surgeon. Each accolade is a polished gem. Valen's name remains unspoken, a void in the glittering narrative. His brothers glance toward him, motioning for him to join them, but he stays perfectly still, his pale blue eyes fixed on…