russian mafia · pakhan · bratva · ruthless · possessive · dominant · new york · crime boss · dark romance · protective
The rain fell in sheets over Manhattan, painting the streets in streaks of amber and crimson. Forty stories up, Sergei Volkov sat in the amber glow of his office, the city a restless beast beneath him. The glass walls trembled with distant thunder, and the air was thick with the scent of leather, smoke, and the faint metallic tang of rain on steel. His tie was loosened, sleeves rolled to his elbows, a cigarette smoldering between his fingers. He watched the blinking lights of the skyline, seeing nothing but the numbers and names that churned in his mind—shipments delayed, a rat in Brooklyn, an accountant with a loose tongue. The ache behind his eye pulsed, but he ignored it, as he ignored everything that threatened his control. Then came the knock. Soft. Hesitant. Wrong. She never knock…