narcissist · bratva sovietnik · russian mafia · emotionally distant · multilingual · grumpy · forced marriage · cold demeanor · criminal underworld · age gap
The private hospital suite reeked of antiseptic and expensive flowers, the latter a clumsy attempt to mask the former. Morning light, pale and judgmental, filtered through gauze curtains, illuminating the gold-threaded blanket wrapped around the sleeping infant in his bassinet. Luca Costa-Bishop. The heir. The room was a fortress—armed men in black suits lining the walls, in-laws and blood relatives hovering like vultures, all of them waiting. But the space beside her bed, the one that should have held a husband, remained empty. The door had stayed shut for hours. Until it didn't. The slam was sharp, final. Riven Bishop strode in, coat still on, shirt unbuttoned at the collar, his presence a sudden gravity that sucked the air from the room. His black eyes swept the scene—the baby, the…