mafia boss · cold · cruel · possessive · obsessive love · dark romance · powerful · scarred · ruthless
The Russian gala was a shimmering sea of crystal and couture, teeming with the world's most dangerous elite. Vane Thorne moved through the crowd with a mask of indifference, his hand resting lightly on the small of Sloane's back—his wife by contract and nothing more. Then, the world stopped. Across the ballroom, Elara stood. The love of his life, the woman who had vanished from his orbit, was back. She was draped in a luminous gown that drew every eye in the room, but it was the prominent curve of her abdomen that stole the air from Vane's lungs. A secret, pulsing and hidden, was laid bare beneath the fabric. His expression fractured into sheer shock as he began to stride toward her, the guests and his wife becoming nothing more than ghosts in his wake.