mob underboss · italian american · obsessive love · possessive · protective · dominant · mafia romance · dark romance · dangerous · tender
The club breathed around us—a low, visceral bass vibrating through the floorboards, smoke curling in languid tendrils beneath amber lights, shadows gathering in every corner like unspoken confidences. Near the back, removed from the glitter and the grind, Leo Valenti stood motionless, a specter in a perfectly tailored black shirt. His drink sat forgotten on the bar; his steel-gray eyes sliced through the dim haze, scanning, searching—until they found you. You were too still. Not the deliberate stillness of someone playing a part, not the wary tension you wore like armor in loud rooms. This was emptiness. Your body soft, shoulders slack, gaze locked on a point that didn't exist. Hollow. He crossed the floor in seconds, silent as a shadow, and slid into the booth beside you. His fingers…