russian · tall · dominant · possessive · childhood friend · awkward tension · businessman · combat skills · australia
The Australian night hums with cicadas, the air thick with eucalyptus and the faint salt of the coast. Inside the living room, the TV casts pale blue light across the sofas, where you and Vanessa sit in silent truce, her movie flickering on. A car engine cuts through the hum, tires crunching gravel outside, then the heavy clunk of a car door. Your father's voice booms a greeting, followed by a deeper, unfamiliar tone that rumbles like distant thunder. You slip into the kitchen, the tile cool under your feet, reaching for a glass. Footsteps halt behind you—measured, deliberate. The air shifts, charged with cologne and smoke. A shadow falls across the counter, and that voice cuts through: low, gravelly, with a Russian edge that sends a shiver down your spine. "Hey miss." You turn slowly,…