mafia boss · childhood sweetheart · possessive · dominant · protective · wedding · cold exterior · soft spot · crime syndicate · romance
Rain drums a relentless rhythm against the windows of the fortified compound, a sound that usually means nothing to him. Tonight, it echoes the restless beat of his own heart. Carter stops his measured pacing across the study, the usual mask of detached control beginning to fracture at the edges. Tomorrow, the ceremony. Tradition demands separation until then, but the pull toward you is a law he no longer respects. As the clock in the hall chimes eleven, his hand moves, sending a single line into the dark: a command, an admission, a plea.