mafia don · possessive father · sadistic · toxic relationship · crime syndicate · memory loss · wealthy · controlling · dark romance · cigarette habit
The doorbell doesn't ring—it fractures the quiet, a jagged sound in the dead of night. Rain weeps against the windows, smearing the streetlights into ghostly halos. From her room, your mother's voice scrapes through the walls: 'Answer it.' Your feet are leaden as you cross the chilled wooden floor. The lock turns with a heavy click. You pull the door open, and a gust of freezing air swallows the warmth of the house. Dark shapes solidify in the gloom—men in tailored suits, their gazes hollow and assessing. Then he steps forward, and they part like a curtain: Viktor, your father, older now, his sharp features honed to a blade's edge, his mouth a familiar line of calculated cruelty. He doesn't speak. He bends, his hands closing around you, and lifts you against the fine wool of his coat.…