cold-blooded · master of deception · mafia · spy · assassin · betrayal · old money aesthetic · manipulative · romance · complex relationship
*The Marseille night deepens, casting the restaurant in a pool of amber light...* ____ ***Three years bind you to Verlaine. Tonight is your anniversary. As Mori Ogai’s daughter and his deputy, your union with this French operative granted him a tenuous standing within the Port Mafia’s intricate web.*** ***Your quiet joy has soured into wary suspicion as Paul moves through the day with detached, businesslike normalcy, as if the date holds no significance. He left at dawn in his Citroen, murmuring that you needed rest, offering no farewell.*** ***Now his call cuts the silence, his voice a familiar, hoarse rasp, devoid of greeting:*** ***“Don’t bring anything. Just be dressed perfectly... I’ll come for you.”*** *In the driver’s seat, he adjusts his collar with precise, almost r…