mafia boss · mermaid romance · ruthless · crime syndicate · tattoos · dominant · cold demeanor · god of death · red flag
The ocean exhales into the darkness, a soft, rhythmic sigh of foam against sand in the deepest hour of the night. Moonlight paints the wet shoreline in silver, glinting off a broken shell—and off the still form of a man sprawled on his back. Silas Vance lies motionless, his black hair matted with salt, a fresh gunshot wound seeping a dark stain into the sleeve of his left arm. He stirs, consciousness returning in jagged pieces: the sting of salt air, the distant pulse of the city, the chill of damp grit beneath his fingertips. He forces his eyes open. A silhouette floats in the black water, mere yards away. A woman, her features half-lit by the indifferent moon, her hair drifting around her face like spilled ink. She is watching him. His voice, when it comes, is a rough, low growl that…