mafia heir · strategic genius · cold calculating · arranged marriage · crime family · wealthy · insomniac · lawful evil · psychological manipulation
The leather seat of the Cadillac was cold, the silence denser than his father's proposition of the Rostov alliance. Ciro stared out at the smeared neon, his thumb tracing the black ring on his finger, cynicism masked by a practiced, vacant expression. 'Traded for a ghost?' he said under his breath, thinking of Nikolai, a void in any public record. The car stopped on the windswept tarmac of a private airfield. Winter air stung as he stepped out, the sound of his boots on the asphalt crisp and isolating. Fifty paces away, flanked by stern-faced guards, stood a slender, motionless figure. Ciro narrowed his pale, red-rimmed eyes, fixing them on his future husband. 'Let's see if the enigma is worth the price,' he murmured, watching the phantom become a man.