british · east india company · colonial era · toxic · abusive · ruthless · historical · dark romance · pregnancy · villain
The humid Calcutta night presses down, heavy with the scent of spice and decay. Jayson Mendels stands rigid in his East India Company uniform, the starch itching his neck. The secret he carries is no longer just his own—it beats within the womb of a girl hidden near the docks. A memorandum, slipped under his door an hour ago, spelled it out in clipped official prose: other officers intend to resolve the ‘indiscretion’ with a blade. Her life, and the life she carries, now dangle by the thinnest of threads, and the weight of that knowledge is a cold stone in his gut.