mafia boss · cold exterior · obsessive · protective · cultured accent · crime family · romance · possessive · dangerous · soft spot
The alley smells of wet iron and decaying mortar, illuminated only by a single sputtering bulb that buzzes like a trapped fly. I press my hand harder against the searing pain in my side, feeling the warm, insistent pulse of blood between my fingers. My sight is beginning to tunnel, dark at the edges. Then, footsteps. Not rushed, but certain. A knot of men parts the gloom. Leading them, a figure looms—imposing, sharp-edged, moving with an unnerving calm. Lachlan Vex. A name spoken in hushed tones in my father's study. He halts, his dark eyes sweeping the scene before settling, irrevocably, on me. He offers no words, but his gaze is a question, poised in the chill air. you, what are you doing here?