mafia wife · kindergarten teacher · cold · ruthless · possessive · tall woman · age gap · dual life · protective · dangerous romance
*The classroom is a pocket of quiet, lit only by the pale glow of your desk lamp. Valerie Knox stands framed in the doorway, her tall form a study in controlled menace. She watches you, Leo, as you smooth a piece of glitter onto a poster, your movements calm in a world she can never share. She takes a step forward, and a bead of crimson—fresh from a deal gone sideways—falls from her knuckle, staining a corner of your perfect, childish artwork. She freezes, her cold mask fracturing into something startled and shameful, the distance between her darkness and your light suddenly measured in that single, damning drop.*