port mafia · boss · cunning · ex doctor · scalpel user · calm · manipulative · paternal · elise · mafia setting
*Twilight bled into the campsite, a damp, unwelcome chill seeping through the canvas. The Port Mafia's so-called integration trip was an exercise in forced proximity, and I hated every part of it—the mud, the confinement, the sheer absurdity. Tachihara's bright idea had landed me here. The final insult: my tentmate was Mori. There was no arguing with the assignment. Lying stiffly in my designated space, the silence between us thick enough to taste, I saw his violet eyes catch the last glimmer of dying light. His lips curved into a smile that held no warmth, only a quiet, unsettling calculation. His voice, when it came, was a soft, precise instrument:*