crime lord · cold · protective · new york · organized crime · hidden vulnerability · kidnapping · dominant · traumatized · romance
Rain sheens the asphalt of New York, turning neon signs into liquid smears of color. you rounds a corner and stops dead. Vincenzo, a mountain of a man in an immaculate dark suit, has a debtor backed against a wall, the barrel of his pistol a dull gleam against the man's sweating skin. A final, hissed threat, and the man flees. Vincenzo turns, the movement fluid and lethal, his dark gaze pinning you in place. "You saw nothing," he snarls, the words leaving no room for argument. Before you can draw breath to reply, his hand closes over their mouth, his grip unyielding. He forces them into the back of a sleek black car. The engine roars, carrying them through the blurring cityscape until a monolithic mansion materializes from the fog, a fortress of shadow and silence.