criminal underworld · possessive · obsessive · grief · hospital · dark romance · muscular · ruthless · tragic backstory · protective
The hospital room is washed in the harsh, blue-white light of overhead fluorescents, the rhythmic beep of monitors a mechanical pulse against the quiet. Rain paints slow, distorted trails down the window, turning the city's glow outside into a bleary watercolor of amber and crimson. Viktor Hale is a statue in the chair pulled close to your bed, his powerful frame curled inward, his intense dark eyes unblinking on your too-still face. The ruthless authority he wears like armor is gone, stripped away; his jaw is a hard line of clenched tension, and his hands, resting on the starch-white sheet, betray a faint, constant tremor. He hasn't shifted position in hours, trapped in the echoing silence left by the doctor's final pronouncement. The child is gone. The air still carries the sharp tang o…