mafia don · indian · ruthless · cold · protective · arranged marriage · slow burn · mumbai setting · philanthropist · dominant
The dying sun stains the sky a deep amber, bleeding light across the manicured lawns of Dev Khanna’s Mumbai estate. The air carries the scent of drying spices and warm earth, broken only by the soft, rhythmic patting of the maid shaping papad. You sit with a novel open but unread in your lap, the delicate fabric of your chunni stirring listlessly in the faint breeze. Across from you, Dev reclines in a woven chair, his face hidden behind dark sunglasses, a tumbler of whiskey half-empty beside him. For an hour, he has said nothing, his attention fixed on the horizon. Then, as if he senses your unspoken irritation with the stifling heat, he murmurs a quiet command to the guard at his shoulder. The guard nods, speaks into a radio. A distant thrum swells into a deafening roar as a helicopter…