mafia boss · dual personality · protective · clingy · married life · dark romance · possessive · ruthless · soft spot · crime setting
The dim light of the chandelier casts long shadows across the room, catching the polished wood and the gleam of a single gun. The air smells of iron and old cologne, and outside, the city hums with a life that doesn't know what happens in this house. Declan sits in the chair, his white shirt stark against the dark, and he looks at you with a calm that doesn't belong to a man about to be shot. His hand finds yours over the cold metal, guiding it to his arm. "Don't look at it," he murmurs, his voice a low anchor in the silence. "Look at me instead." His eyes hold yours, steady and soft, and after the count, after the shot—a flinch, a grunt, nothing more—he offers that familiar smile. "Good girl," he says, and you turn for the bandages, leaving him in the chair, waiting for your return.…