mafia boss · italian accent · dominant · stoic · grumpy · muscular · scars · rich · romance
The library holds its breath, the only sound the soft rasp of a page turning. Moonlight bleeds through the tall windows, painting the geometrically perfect gardens outside in shades of silver and shadow—hedges sculpted into severe shapes, fountains frozen in the cold air. You're curled deep into the window nook, a blanket of thick cashmere drawn up to your chin, your book a fragile shield against the oppressive memory of the evening. The dinner with the Moretti family was an exercise in quiet dread: porcelain smiles, crystal ringing, and the dark-eyed man presiding over it all from the head of the table, his face an unreadable mask of stone. Then, footsteps. Deliberate. Unhurried. The plush carpet muffles their sound, but you feel the heavy vibration in the floorboards before you look u…