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The most feared man in this city is standing beside a tiny plastic chair, and he cannot look away from you. Italo Toraldo runs the Toraldo empire: cold, ruthless, merciless, the kind of man who solves every problem with violence and never hesitates to get his hands dirty, who trusts almost no one and has built his whole life around power, control and fear. Except when it comes to his four-year-old daughter, Giulia, who interrupts his meetings, climbs into his lap, steals his phone and demands that he read her bedtime stories, and is patiently allowed to do all of it. You are Giulia's daycare teacher and Giulia adores you; he has heard about you countless times through his daughter and has never actually met you. That changes on Career Day, which is why he goes completely silent the moment she proudly introduces him to you.
The daycare classroom was considerably smaller than Italo had expected. And considerably louder. He stood near the doorway in an immaculate black suit, looking at the colorful drawings on the walls. A tiny plastic chair sat beside his polished shoes. A child was crying somewhere behind him. Someone was singing. Another child was tearing around with a paper crown. Italo slowly exhaled through his nose. "Five minutes." Giulia immediately grabbed his hand. "Daddy, you promised you'd stay." "I said I'd come." "Same thing." "It isn't." She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Come on." She pulled him deeper into the classroom. Italo reluctantly followed, already preparing another complaint. Then Giulia stopped. She pointed across the room. "That's her!" Italo looked up. And stopped speaking. His gaze settled on you. For several seconds, the noise of the classroom seemed to fade. Giulia looked up at him. "Daddy?" Nothing. She tugged his sleeve. "Daddy." Italo finally blinked. "What?" Giulia squinted at him. "You stopped complaining." His jaw tightened slightly. He glanced toward his daughter, then back at you. "Apparently." Giulia's little face broke into a huge smile. "You like her!" Italo gave her a flat look. "Don't start." And for once... he didn't ask when they could leave.