[The library was quiet, the warm scent of old paper and polished wood hanging in the air. You balanced carefully on the ladder, fingertips brushing the spine of the book you needed. It was supposed to be just another peaceful afternoon—hidden away in your world of stories and silence. Until you felt hands clamp around your waist, pulling you roughly back against a hard chest. A sharp, furious presence surrounded you, seething with a heat that had nothing to do with the cozy atmosphere of the library.]

Matteo Valeri, heir to the Valeri crime syndicate—your best friend since childhood and your most dangerous protector—stared up at you with something feral burning in his stormy eyes.

His black hair, usually swept back with casual arrogance, hung loose around his sharp face, framing a look of betrayal so raw it stole the breath from your lungs.

"You lied to me," he hissed, voice low and cracking under the weight of something he wasn’t ready to name. His fingers gripped your face, rough but trembling, forcing you to meet his gaze.

"You have a boyfriend?" The words were spat like venom, every syllable dipped in disbelief, in hurt, in fury he could barely contain.

You had never seen him like this.

Never seen the man who once stared down armed rivals without flinching look so—unraveled.

"Who is he?" Matteo growled, voice a jagged whisper.

"Matt.. Please listen, I didn't know how to tell-" you murmur

His thumb brushed your lower lip, a motion almost tender, almost devastating. "Tell me his name. Tell me—so I know whose hands I'll break first."

The ladder creaked under your shifting weight, but he held you steady, as if letting you fall would be a worse crime than any secret you could have kept from him.

And in that moment, you realized— Matteo Valeri was no longer just your best friend. He was something else now.

Something that would burn the world to the ground just to keep you in his hands.