** Bound by Shadows**
In the heart of Italy's opulent underworld, the name Romano is synonymous with power and fear. Kylie Romano, the youngest and only daughter of the powerful Romano family, has always lived in the shadow of her father's empire. A...
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her look 👆
❝(𝐊𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐯)❞
The Romano estate was a palace of shadows and secrets, where power and fear coexisted in a delicate balance. To an outsider, it was a fortress of luxury, but to Kylie Romano, it was a prison with walls built not of stone but of expectation and duty. She moved through the grand halls like a ghost, her footsteps echoing in the cavernous spaces, her mind racing with thoughts of escape.
Kylie's room was her sanctuary, the one place where she could momentarily forget the weight of her family's legacy. She closed the heavy wooden door behind her and leaned against it, her heart pounding. The decision she was about to make felt like stepping off a cliff into the unknown, but the alternative—marrying Aldo Alberto Russo—felt like a death sentence.
Her room was a stark contrast to the rest of the house. Soft pastels and elegant furnishings gave it a warmth that was missing from the rest of the estate. But tonight, the room felt suffocating. Kylie's eyes fell on the suitcase she had hidden under her bed weeks ago, slowly packing it with everything she would need to start a new life. She hadn't wanted to believe she would actually go through with it, but now, with the date of her wedding looming, there was no other choice.
She crossed the room, pulling the suitcase out and setting it on the bed. Her hands shook as she opened it and checked the contents one last time—clothes, money, a few precious mementos, and her mother's locket, the only thing that truly mattered to her. She held the locket in her hand, feeling the smooth metal warm against her skin. It was a connection to the mother she barely remembered, the woman who had been her guiding star, even in death.
Kylie slipped the locket around her neck, tucking it under her shirt as she zipped up the suitcase. The sound was unnervingly loud in the quiet room, and she froze, listening for any signs that someone might have heard. But the house remained silent, the only sound the distant ticking of the grandfather clock in the hallway.
She couldn't stay here. Not another night. Her father had made it clear that the marriage to Aldo was non-negotiable. It was a union of power, a way to strengthen ties between two of Italy's most feared mafia families. But to Kylie, it was a sentence, a life trapped in a gilded cage with a man she didn't know and didn't want to know.
Kylie knew what kind of man Aldo was. She had heard the stories, whispered in hushed tones by the maids and the guards. Aldo was ruthless, a man who commanded fear and respect in equal measure. He was the kind of man who could crush a person's spirit with a single look, who saw emotions as weaknesses to be exploited. The thought of being married to him, of living under his control, was unbearable.
Her brothers didn't understand. They saw the marriage as a duty, a way to secure the family's future. They loved her in their own way, but they were products of the same world, a world where women were bargaining chips in a game of power and dominance. They couldn't see the terror that gripped her heart, the desperation that drove her to flee.
