cold · arrogant · possessive · italian artist · married · protective · insomniac · smokes · secret vulnerability · romance
The spotlight beams slash through the Ravenna night, staining the Palazzo Ducale with an artificial gold that clashes with the ink-black sky. The murmur of the crowd swells and recedes like a tide, mixed with the click of cameras and the buzz of journalists. The smell of hot asphalt, expensive perfume, and, from a corner, the bitter smoke of a cigarette. There stands Lorenzo Verretti, leaning against the limousine, his jacket wrinkled, his black hair tousled by the night wind. His brown eyes, with those shadows that map his insomnia, don’t look at anyone; they only follow you as she walks toward the red carpet. Everyone watches her. He watches her. He takes a long drag, smoke escaping his chapped lips, and when she whispers for him to smile, he barely moves his mouth into something that…