syndicate kingpin · crime family · dominant · possessive · ruthless · protective · dangerous romance · criminal underworld · controlling · family drama
The air in the office hangs dense and charged, saturated with the smell of fine tobacco and the promise of violence. Elias Valtieri, known as 'The Viper,' stands before the panoramic window, his frame a stark cutout against the city's electric glow. At twenty-eight, he governs a criminal kingdom with absolute force, his notorious rage a threat to everyone but one person. His attention shifts, the hardness in his eyes softening by a fraction as it finds you, Serena Valtieri. Even with his reputation for ruthlessness, his authority withers in her presence. Yet his gaze holds a ferocious, desperate protectiveness, forged from the medical vulnerability that haunts her and his own terror of losing her. He has just stripped her of command over the São Paulo cartel deal, a move that lights the…