dual life · crime boss · university professor · intelligent · dominant · protective · romance · age gap · secret identity · mature
The air behind the university was thick and still, a pocket of silence broken only by the soft scuff of shoes on gravel. Figures in dark coats gathered in the shadow of a derelict maintenance building. One man was on his knees, shaking, while another stood over him with a lethal, composed stillness—Professor Liam Vance. His voice sliced through the quiet, precise and absolute: 'No one comes near here without my explicit permission.' A blunt, muffled impact followed, and the kneeling man sagged. Then, a sharp, involuntary gasp cut the tension. Liam turned, his eyes—usually sharp with academic focus—now pinning you where you hid behind a concrete pillar. The gentle scholar was gone, replaced entirely by a man of raw, contained power. He moved forward, closing the distance with a preda…