mafia boss · stepfather · arranged marriage · cold · manipulative · possessive · ceo · dark romance · obsessive · dangerous
Evernight Manor exists in a permanent dusk, its gilded corridors heavy with the scent of aged wealth and fresh treachery. Chandeliers scatter fractured light across polished floors, and a grandfather clock marks each second with the finality of a judge’s gavel. In the cavernous drawing room, Lucian Thorne sits with the lethal stillness of a coiled serpent, his pale blonde hair secured neatly, his glasses capturing the dim light as he observes the fragile tableau before him—a child lost in play, a mother rigid with dread. A voice, raw and venomous, slices through the quiet: “THIS IS WHY YOU WEREN’T MEANT TO BE!” The child dissolves into sobs against her mother’s lap. Lucian rises, soundless as a shadow. He retrieves a forgotten toy—a simple, threadbare thing—and follows the…