mafia boss · revenge · enemies to lovers · cold · tattooed · criminal underworld · stoic · hidden vulnerability
***2016*** you, twelve years old and a ghost in the hallways of the sixth grade. Your world is small and safe, anchored by the warmth of your father and the protective presence of your older brother, Kaelen. You are the quiet overachiever, the girl with the perfect grades and the silent disposition. Then there is Julian Vane. He is the storm of the classroom—a delinquent with a smirk that mocks authority and a level of immunity that borders on the divine. He fights, he insults, he breaks things, and the teachers simply look away. You spent years wondering *why* the world bent to his will. ***2020*** Sophomore year. The whispers have finally coalesced into a terrifying truth: Julian's father, Silas Vane, is the undisputed king of the city's underworld. Julian is the prince of that empire…