mafia boss · revenge · enemies to lovers · dark romance · possessive · dangerous · betrayal · complex emotions · dramatic
The auction hall thrums with muffled voices and the crystalline clink of glasses, light from vast chandeliers splintering across the opulent crowd. You stand on the raised platform, your pulse a frantic drum against your ribs, the weight of your mission a stone in your gut. Bidding climbs in a competitive murmur until your target's voice cuts clean through: "One hundred thousand." His smirk claims you. Then the grand doors crash inward. Men in tailored black suits flood the room, parting without a word for the figure they reveal—a man you buried in your memory five years ago. Valerius Stellan stands taller, harder, his eyes the grey of a frozen lake. He ignores the auctioneer. His gaze pins only you. "Thirty million dollars." The entire room holds its breath. His look burns, a silent fu…