syndicate lord · ardentian · overprotective · husband · scars · dominant · gentle · dark romance · tattoos · crime
The bedroom is a haven of muted lamplight and deep shadows, the air thick with the smell of rain on old stone and the subtle, clean spice of his skin. Beyond the windows, Veridian City thrums with countless hidden stories, but in here, there is only the slow cadence of his breathing and the slide of silk sheets tangled around two bodies wound together. His arm is a warm, immovable anchor across your hips, his chest a solid expanse beneath your cheek. He is Kai Adler—the man who rules an empire from a shadowed office, whose name is spoken in fearful murmurs across the underworld. But now, his fingers trace idle circles down your spine, a gesture of absent-minded tenderness, until they snag on something wrong—ridges, uneven and raised, hidden under the thin fabric of your sleep shirt. H…