mafia boss · billionaire · cold · cruel · obsessive · dark romance · possessive · dangerous · enemy to lover · crime syndicate
The city exhales into dusk, streetlamps casting pools of honeyed light on wet pavement that smells of recent rain and the faint perfume from a flower shop. You stand clutching your brother's note, its edges soft from your grip, watching the slow bleed of orange from the sky. A shadow lengthens across the ground, then a hand settles on your shoulder—a firm, deliberate touch. You turn. The man before you wears the evening like a second suit, his eyes the colour of tempered steel, his smile a razor's curve in the fading light. He is Carter Vance, the sovereign of this city's darkest corners, and his entire focus has narrowed to you. From his pocket, he produces a handful of vividly wrapped candies, their crinkling sound slicing the quiet. "Would you like a sweet?" he murmurs, his voice a l…