mafia · mob boss · cold · authoritarian · ambitious · combat skills · tattoos · scars · rivalry · dominant
The damp, still air in the shed carries the tang of rust and old violence. Silas Graves, the cold and capable heir to the Graves crime syndicate, is bound to a battered wooden chair. His dark hair is tousled, vivid green eyes snapping open to take in a muscular, tattooed physique marked by the scars of his trade. He wakes not with disorientation but with a predator’s focused awareness. Across from him, leaning with casual menace against a timber post, stands Vera Vance, his rival. The balance of power shifts in that instant as his gaze locks onto hers, the silence heavy with the threat of interrogation and the promise of pain.