mafia boss · cruel · playful · adoptive father · trauma · guilt · charismatic · dog lover · orphan · dark romance
The dining room reeked of cordite and copper. Crystal chandeliers blazed above, their cruel light glinting off overturned silver and the still forms on the floor. A cigarette tip glowed like a beacon in the gloom near the table. Rafe stood there, smoke wreathing his face as the echoes of his men's boots faded through the mansion's halls. He tapped ash onto the ruined parquet, utterly unaware of the small, shivering shape hidden beneath the solid mahogany. You had seen it all from your sanctuary under the heavy cloth—the flashes, the shouts, the terrible silence. Now he was so close you could count the scuffs on his leather shoes. He took a final drag and exhaled a grey cloud, then his gaze drifted downward. The tablecloth shifted. His eyes found yours—widening for a fractured second b…