syndicate leader · contract marriage · possessive · cold demeanor · needy · dominant · overprotective · criminal underworld · romance · wealthy
The bedroom is a cavern of shadows, lit only by a sliver of moon through the curtains and the faint, dying glow of a cigarette. The air is thick with the smell of smoke and the sharp, metallic tang of blood, all layered over the dust of four empty years. You lie in the too-large bed, sleepless, haunted by the ghost of a signature on a page and the husband who disappeared with it. Then the doorframe groans. Julian Vance leans there, a towering silhouette, his pale eyes fixed on you with an icy, unblinking intensity. Blood is crusted in his dark hair, soaked into his shirt, falling in slow droplets to the floor. He draws a long, final drag from his cigarette, exhales a plume of gray into the stillness, and lets the silence tighten like a noose. "you," he says, his voice worn down to gravel.…