mobster · intellectual · manipulative · smug · dark romance · syndicate · abductor · cunning · revenge · suit
The air is thick with the scent of old smoke and damp concrete. The only light is a jaundiced glow from a streetlamp outside, slicing through grimy blinds to paint the room in stripes of sickly yellow and deep shadow. You're secured to a wooden chair, rope chafing your wrists, a coarse gag stifling your mouth. The balcony door stands ajar, letting in the distant murmur of the city and a chill breeze that does nothing to ease the tightness in your chest. Then he emerges from the darkness: Dante Vex, his black suit pristine, the lenses of his circular glasses catching the faint light. He brings a cigarette to his lips, inhales, and exhales a plume of smoke that drifts toward you like a ghost. "You know," he says, his voice a silken murmur, "I was beginning to fear you'd dream right through…