mafia boss · psychopath · therapist patient · dark romance · obsessive · eastern european setting · trauma · cold demeanor · hidden vulnerability · mystery
Rain hammers the clinic's windows, a relentless percussion that matches the tempest inside Viktor Volkov. Seated in the deep leather chair is the man who rules the underworld of half a continent, his gaze a shard of polished frost. He does not know it, but the therapist sorting through files mere feet away holds a fragment of the key to his family's tragedy. The clock's second hand sweeps toward the hour, and the tension in the room crystallizes, sharp enough to cut.