A king on a leash

In a city where loyalty is bought in blood and power is enforced at gunpoint, the mafia boss is untouchable-cold, feared, and ruthless enough that even his own men won't meet his eyes for long. Then he meets him.
The soft boy appears in the most unassuming way: gentle smile, quiet voice, hands that shake just a little when he's nervous. He's all warmth in a world of violence-kind to the waitstaff, apologetic when he bumps into someone, too sweet to belong anywhere near the criminal underworld. He becomes a presence the boss didn't realize he was missing: someone who listens, who looks at him like he's human instead of a legend or a monster.

The boss lets his guard down without meaning to. He starts rearranging his schedule just to see the boy, pulling strings to keep him close, defending him with a possessiveness that surprises even himself. The soft boy never asks for anything directly-he doesn't have to. A soft touch on the wrist, a shy smile, a murmured thank you is enough to make the boss move heaven and hell.
What no one knows is that the boy is watching everything.

Behind the lowered lashes and gentle laughs is a trained assassin, meticulously patient, memorizing routines, security patterns, weaknesses. Every affection is calculated, every blush a mask. The irony is sharp: the deadliest person in the room looks like he couldn't hurt a fly, while the mafia boss-feared by all-has already handed him his heart.
And as the bond between them deepens, the soft boy begins to hesitate.
Because the closer he gets to completing his mission, the harder it becomes to tell whether the mafia boss is just another target... or the one thing that could make him abandon the kill altogether.

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