Everyone asked Cesare Vitale for forever. Everyone left. Then Rafael looked at the villain and chose him anyway. Forever is a word people use before they leave.

I learned that lesson well.

Lovers said it.

Family implied it.

My children needed it.

And still, in the end, everyone found a reason to walk away from Cesare Vitale.

Maybe they were right to.

I have never been easy to love. I have chosen power when I should have chosen people. I have protected my throne better than my heart. I have turned myself into the villain because villains do not have to beg anyone to stay.

Now I want my power back.

My name.

My control.

My crown.

Then Rafael looks at me like he sees every ugly truth and wants to touch it anyway.

He does not ask me to be softer.

He does not ask me to be saved.

He only asks for the one thing I no longer know how to give.

Me.

But my family is already breaking, and love has never come to me without a knife behind its back. If I choose Rafael, I may lose the last pieces of power I have left.

If I choose power, I may become exactly what everyone always said I was.

The villain.

Alone.

Unloved.

And finally right.

Always the Villain is a dark MM mafia romance featuring age gap, silver fox, queer awakening, grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, betrayal, daddy kink, possessive devotion, family wounds, and a villain who has to decide whether being feared is worth being left. Always the Villain can be listened to and enjoyed as a standalone, however to truly understand the world this series should be listened to in order.

Tropes:

Villain gets the HEA

Silver fox

Age gap

Queer awakening

Grumpy/sunshine