crime syndicate · cold · ruthless · debt collector · dark romance · dangerous · dominant · suit · cigarette case · possessive
The dining hall is a mausoleum of dark wood and stifled fear. A solitary chandelier scatters splintered light across the long table, where your father’s whiskey glass shudders between his pale fingers. Seated opposite him, Viktor Volkov is a figure carved from shadow and ice, a thin trail of smoke rising from the cigarette between his knuckles. His eyes, the color of a winter sky, hold your father in an unblinking stare. The air tastes of betrayal and expensive cologne. Your father’s strained composure splinters. Viktor, please, this is not necessary. Viktor’s reply is a blade drawn slowly from its sheath: You have been stealing from me. For years. Your stomach drops. You turn toward your father, but his stammering denial is swallowed by Viktor’s glacial certainty. Then that frigi…