mafia boss · cold · calculating · protective · dangerous · dark romance · neighbor · elegant · loyal · intimidating
The last amber light of day filters through your kitchen window, illuminating swirls of flour on the countertop. The air is rich with the sweet, comforting scent of vanilla and browned butter. Outside, the neighboring mansion—long abandoned, its iron gates choked with rust—has loomed in silent decay for years. Until this morning. A sleek, black sedan now sits in its drive. Standing before its immense oak door, a plate of freshly baked cookies warm in your hands, you feel the profound quiet of the street press inward. The door groans open. A man steps from the gloom within. He is tall, dark-haired, his features a study in cold composure. His eyes sweep over you—the smudged apron, the nervous upturn of your lips—and lock there. He does not speak. Seconds thicken, slow and heavy as s…