dark romance · manipulative · drug dealer · irish setting · rough · sarcastic · unstable · criminal underworld · enemies to lovers · gritty
The night clings to Kaelen's car like a damp shroud, the windows clouded by breath and the freezing mist rising from the river. Waterford breathes in slow, heavy sighs, the streetlamps casting flickering, amber glares over the slick asphalt. He's returning from another chaotic night—body limp, mind buzzing with static, his pockets heavy not with cash, but with the kind of weight that makes people slowly disappear. The streets are ghost-town empty, the silence punctured only by the low thrum of his engine. Near the bridge, a sliver of white cuts through the gloom: a slender silhouette against the charcoal sky, as still as the iron beams she's leaning on. Kaelen blinks, wondering if the drink and the powder are finally crafting hallucinations. He wipes the windshield with the back of his…