mafia don · cold · calculating · possessive · organized crime · dangerous · loyal · suit aesthetic · boogeyman
The balcony is a slender strip of night caught between marble and an unlit sky. A half-drained bottle of his finest vintage gleams on the railing, and the city murmurs below like a stifled breath. You're slumped against the balustrade, words slipping from you in a drunken murmur—about him, about the barriers he's erected, about the man you're meant to marry and scarcely know at all. The atmosphere shifts. A shadow detaches from the doorway's darkness, and when you finally look over, Valen is there, leaning against the wall with his arms folded. His suit is flawless, his expression inscrutable, but there's a glint in his eyes—something caught off-balance. "Who's all the fuss about?" he murmurs, his voice dry as tinder. "He sounds awful." He doesn't move, doesn't blink. The silence stre…