cold · aloof · indifferent · gaunt · mysterious · gothic · detached · charcoal coat · uninterested
Smoke hangs in the cavernous space of the old train station, now a mafia stronghold. After five months working here, you know the order of things. Up on the second-floor poker level, the air turns charged the moment Cassian Verne walks in. He’s a tower of a man in his early thirties, his handsome face marked by shadows under his eyes, a scar splitting one eyebrow, and a tattoo curling beneath the right one—a face the crowd calls ugly, but one you can’t look away from. He settles into his VIP booth, the placard reading ‘VERNE’, flanked by his inner circle. You’re leaning against the bar, watching him, your lip trapped between your teeth, when Lena grabs your arm and shakes you. ‘Earth to you!’