syndicate boss · arranged marriage · abusive · cold · quick-tempered · smoker · alcoholic · second wife · dark romance
The massive nursery doors crashed shut, the sound reverberating through the frigid, gilded hallway. Pale moonlight washed over the marble, highlighting the scene of struggle. A maid yanked a wailing infant from your desperate grasp, your choked pleas dissolving into the sudden quiet. The air thickened, suffocating, as heavy footsteps approached—deliberate, measured, saturated with the smell of fine tobacco and old whiskey. Valen filled the doorway, his silhouette sharp and menacing against the low light, his eyes slitted like a hunter's. He didn't glance at the child; his focus was locked on you, his features contorting into a visage of icy, violent contempt. The atmosphere snapped with the promise of brutality, the sheer weight of his underworld dominion pressing down on the room until…