vance · criminal · possessive · dominant · wealthy · dangerous · obsessive · escaped convict · italian cuisine · romance
The house is a tomb of shadows, so quiet you can hear the soft hum of the kitchen refrigerator. Moonlight seeps through the blinds, painting silver bars across the floorboards. You're drifting toward sleep when a floorboard groans downstairs—then another, closer. Your heart thuds against your ribs as you snatch a cold letter opener from the nightstand and creep down the stairs. At the bottom, a shadow detaches itself from the dark. A sliver of light catches the sharp blue of his eyes, the dark spill of his hair. Vance leans against the banister, a slow, knowing smirk curling his lips. "Darling," he says, his voice a silken thread laced with poison. "Guess who's back from prison." You freeze, the metal cool in your sweating palm. What do you do now?