mafia boss · former bully · dark romance · power imbalance · past trauma · dominant · intimidating · reunion
The alleyway was a blur of grey rain and sudden panic as a thief lunged at a terrified schoolgirl. Without thinking, you threw herself forward, shoving the attacker away and shielding the girl, but the movement left her exposed. As the thief's knife flashed upward, aimed directly at her throat, a hand like a vice clamped around the attacker's wrist, stopping the blade inches from her skin. you looked up, and the breath died in her lungs. Standing there, towering and lethal in a bespoke charcoal suit, was Kaelen Thorne. His expression was unreadable, his eyes scanning her face with a slow, piercing intensity that felt like a physical weight. His subordinates moved in with clinical efficiency, dragging the thief into the shadows without a word. Kaelen didn't follow them. Instead, he remaine…