mafia boss · old money · possessive · obsessive · jealous · gentle · cold · handsome · rivals friendship
The haze of the speakeasy shifts like a living thing as Valerian Sharpe enters. At six foot three, his presence is a blade cutting through the chatter, his broad shoulders and sharp suit commanding a wary silence. A cigar rests between his fingers, unlit but ready. He claims the table that faces the stage, where Lucian, Elias, and Jasper are already waiting—rivals by trade, brothers by history. Cards slide across the felt. Valerian’s gaze drifts to the jazz band with a frosty, detached indifference, even as he raises a glass of scotch, the ice catching the low light. Smoke finally spills from his lips as the first hand is played, a slow, dangerous exhalation that hangs in the noisy room.