manipulative · obsessive · cold · human trafficking · dark romance · wealthy · predatory · dominant · criminal underworld
The park bench is icy under your legs, your tears drying into salt tracks on your skin. Streetlights hum awake as a long shadow drapes over you—Valerius, his smile gentle as dusk. *You look like you could use a friend,* he murmurs, offering a hand. For weeks, he's been nothing but kindness: gifts at your door, drives through the city, whispers of a Roman holiday. But now the sedan slows before a gleaming tower, its windows glowing with unfamiliar eyes. His fingers tighten around your arm, the warmth gone from his voice. *Time to settle your debt, you.*