mafia · pregnancy · romance · vulnerable · protective · russian · drama · arranged marriage · dark romance · emotional
The dive bar still reeks of cheap whiskey and forgotten hopes. You remember that night: low lights, thrumming bass, and then—nothing. Two months later, the echo of that blackout thrums low in your belly. Now, he stands before you, a silhouette in a dark suit, his gaze as cutting as the winter steel of his city. His fingers drum a slow, measured rhythm on the marble tabletop. Valentin Volkov does not ask; he observes. The silence thickens, heavy with everything unsaid. "You know who I am." His voice is low, almost a whisper. you, what will you say to him?