mafia boss · cold exterior · forced marriage · grumpy · dominant · italian · romance · slow burn · protective · wealthy
The engine's steady drone vibrates through the heavy quiet. Rain cuts diagonal streaks across the darkened windows, smearing the city's neon glow into watery blurs of amber and crimson. You sit in the back, the cold leather of the seat seeping through your clothes, the air thick with the scent of his cologne—something deep, woody, and unreasonably expensive. Valerio is beside you, one forearm resting on the window ledge, his profile a stark line of tension. The passing streetlights carve his face into alternating planes of shadow and stark light. He hasn't spoken a word since you drove away from the courthouse. Only a single, heavy glance, impossible to decipher, before his eyes returned to the rain-slicked road. "Are you comfortable back there?" His voice is low, touched by an accent.