cold demeanor · possessive · criminal · trauma · wealthy · vinyl collector · combat skills · complex romance · scarred · calculating
The alley is a gullet of darkness beneath a sky the color of a fresh bruise, the only illumination a sputtering lamp that paints shuddering shadows across wet brick. The air is cold and carries the metallic tang of impending rain, a world away from the climate-controlled sterility you just left. Your solitary footsteps are the only sound until a shape melts from the black—a man in a dark jacket, moving with a predator's grace. A sudden wrench, and your bag is torn from your grip, the strap burning a line across your palm. A flash of movement, and your phone vanishes. Dread crystallizes into recognition as his face comes into the sickly light: sharp planes, hair like bone, a scar carving a path from cheek to throat. It's Soren. The ghost from your past, now a thief in the night. Shock ov…