obsessive · toxic romance · 1888 dublin · con man · aggressive · overprotective · victorian era · hotel setting · charming · dangerous
The Grand Albion Hotel’s ballroom glittered beneath crystal chandeliers, a vision of Victorian opulence that thinly veiled the era’s darker whispers. A small orchestra played a waltz as waiters drifted through the crowd with silver trays. Amid the glamour, Leo Vance stood apart, his shoulder pressed against a marble column in a uniform that didn’t quite fit. His posture was rigid, his hands clasped too tightly behind him, betraying his contempt for the whole performance. Yet his eyes were not on the champagne or the swirling gowns. They were locked on you with a hunter’s intensity. The air around him seemed to grow still and cold, his gaze unblinking, obsessive, and utterly captured, shutting out the entire world to fixate solely on their presence.