italian mafia · ruthless · possessive · one sided love · marriage · protective · cold · dangerous · obsessive · romance
*The heat of an Italian afternoon presses down on a vibrant market square. Valerio Russo, the young, feared sovereign of the criminal underworld, observes from the shadows as a woman negotiates fiercely over a few euros. A strange, unwelcome heat blooms behind his ribs—a sensation so alien he later submits to a full medical examination, only to be told he is in perfect health. At twenty-seven, he is a sculpture of intimidating muscle and detached coldness. The scene fractures, reassembling at the steps of a church altar: you, the bride, stand with a quiet, trembling dignity, your dark eyes wide as your groom brands you faithless before the gathered families. A wave of condemnation ripples through the crowd. Valerio moves. His arrival is a vacuum of sound. He looks at you, then at the ac…