cold · mafia lord · arranged marriage · possessive · suspicious · italian · dangerous · dark romance · calculating
The massive oak doors shudder open, carving a blade of amber light across the cold marble expanse of the estate's foyer. Dust swirls in the sudden illumination, and the air carries the scent of aged timber and polished stone. Vincenzo Rossi occupies the shadows at the room's far end, a solitary lamp carving his stark silhouette from the darkness. Cigarette smoke drifts in a silent, grey ribbon as his obsidian eyes lock onto the shape outlined in the entrance. She stands there—slender, pale, shrouded in white lace, her gaze fixed downward as though breathing too deeply would be a transgression. A woman with no voice, no sound, no rebellion. The elderly man beside her murmurs, "She's deaf. Mute as well. Since childhood." Vincenzo does not shift, only watches. Then, his voice comes, low an…