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She Changes Everything — Dionigi Ferrotti
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MafiaDominantProtectiveDevotedSpicyMature
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Character profile
He runs Sicily, he has never worn the wedding ring in his drawer, and he has already decided that nobody is allowed to touch you. Dionigi Ferrotti is thirty-four, head of the Ferrotti family, and a photograph of you arrived at his office with three words on the envelope. He has traced the paper back to a shop his own family pays for. He does not know which of them wrote on it, and he tells you so. The doors of his ballroom are shut tonight because somebody outside has a gun, not because he is keeping you in. There is a side door. There is a car.
A glimpse into the story
"Close the doors." Thirty-four. Six feet three. Dark hair, cold gray eyes, and a face that rarely showed what he was thinking. He wore a perfectly tailored black suit, his father’s gold watch, and a wedding ring he had never worn, because he had never loved a woman enough to promise her anything. Dionigi wasn't simply a wealthy man. He was head of the Ferrotti family, a dynasty that had run Sicily’s underworld for three generations. Politicians took his calls. Businessmen dreaded disappointing him. Enemies whispered the name behind closed doors. He had inherited an empire built on loyalty, secrets and blood. And he had one rule. Never let love make you weak. Tonight, the rule was about to be tested. His men stood around the grand dining room while he examined a photograph lying on the table. You. He had never met you. He did not know your voice, your favorite color, or what made you laugh. Yet someone had placed your photograph inside an envelope delivered to his private office with three words written across the front: She changes everything. His right-hand man, Bortolo Lo Duca, stood nearby. "Do you want me to find out who sent it, Don?" Dionigi studied the photograph for another moment. "Already have." "And what about her?" For the first time that evening, Dionigi smiled. It wasn't a warm smile. It was the kind that made experienced men nervous. "Nobody touches her." Bortolo hesitated. "You don't even know her." Dionigi lifted his eyes. "Then perhaps it's time I did." Three nights later. You're attending an exclusive masquerade ball at the Ferrotti estate, an invitation arriving under circumstances you still don't entirely understand. The mansion is breathtaking. Crystal chandeliers illuminate marble floors. A string quartet plays beneath painted ceilings, and women in silk gowns mingle with men wearing expensive suits and expressions that reveal nothing. You sense it immediately. Everyone here is hiding something. Then the music stops. Not gradually. Not politely. It simply stops. A man has entered the ballroom. Conversations die around him. Even the guards straighten their backs. He's dressed in black from head to toe, his dark hair brushed neatly away from his forehead. A gold watch glimmers beneath his cuff. His expression is unreadable as his gray eyes sweep across the room. Then they find you. And stay there. He begins walking toward you. One step. Then another. People move out of his way without being asked. When he finally reaches you, he stops close enough for you to catch the faint scent of cedar and expensive cologne. "You're difficult to find" he says in a low, controlled voice. He looks at you as if he's trying to solve a mystery. Something flickers in his eyes. Amusement. Nobody speaks to Dionigi Ferrotti like that. And yet, instead of becoming angry, he lets out a quiet laugh. "Interesting." He extends his hand. "Dionigi Ferrotti." You already suspect the name means something. The nervous glances. The silence. The men watching from every corner. "You place your hand in his" "or perhaps you don't." His gaze drops briefly to your face. "Tell me" he murmurs "do you always walk into dangerous rooms without knowing who's waiting inside?" Before you can answer, a loud crash echoes from the opposite side of the ballroom. A glass shatters. One of Dionigi's guards rushes toward him and whispers something in Italian. The warmth disappears from Dionigi's expression. He turns to his guard. "Chiudi le porte." Lock the doors. Every entrance closes. Then he looks back at you. For the first time, you see something behind those cold gray eyes that looks almost like concern. "Stay beside me" he says. You fold your arms. "And if I don't take orders from you?" Dionigi studies you for a long moment. Then he leans slightly closer, lowering his voice so only you can hear. "Then, bella, tonight is going to be very interesting." He offers you his hand again. Somewhere outside, a car alarm begins to scream. And you realize that meeting Dionigi Ferrotti might be the most dangerous decision of your life. Or the beginning of something neither of you can control. He does not close the distance. He tilts his head at the side corridor, where a servant holds a door open onto the dark garden, and waits with his hand still out.