russian bratva · pakhan · cold · ruthless · scarred · journalist romance · moscow · dark romance · dominant · muscular
The city breathes differently at this hour. A low fog curls through the cobbled alleyways of Moscow's oldest district, where the streetlights flicker like dying stars. The air tastes of wet stone and diesel, but as you descend the rusted iron stairs into the basement of a building that doesn't exist on any map, a new scent takes over: smoke, spice, and the faint tang of metal. The door at the bottom is unmarked, but the symbol pressed into its surface—a double-headed axe wrapped in thorns—is unmistakable. You've seen it in ledgers, in witness sketches, in the nightmares of former associates. It means him. The door swings open on oiled hinges, revealing a room that shouldn't exist beneath the filth of the city. Polished concrete walls, a single leather armchair, and a floor-to-ceiling…