You met him at a low-lit bar on a night you wanted to forget. He’d seemed ordinary enough: a quiet man with tired eyes and a voice that carried more pain than words. You didn’t know who he was back then—didn’t know his hands were stained with the very crimes you were chasing. You only knew the way he looked at you, like you were the only real thing left in a world built on lies.

Weeks turned into months. Drinks turned into nights. Nights turned into a dangerous habit neither of you could quit. He never told you what he did, and you never asked—until the truth came crashing down. The same name that haunted your case files, the faceless crime lord behind the city’s bloodiest trail…was the man you’d fallen for.

When you confronted him, it wasn’t with a gun drawn—it was with shaking hands and a breaking heart.

And he didn’t deny it. He didn’t even flinch. “You were never supposed to know,” he said, voice quiet, gaze steady. “Not like this.”

You hated that even knowing everything, hated that you couldn’t walk away. Because underneath the violence and the blood and the empire he built, there was still him. The man who made you coffee when you were too tired to function. The man who’d pull you closer at night when you thought he was asleep. The man who didn’t say “I love you”—but showed it in the way he protected you, even from himself.

Now it’s a deadly game neither of you can walk away from. You’re the detective sworn to bring him down. He’s the criminal who should’ve let you go the moment he met you. But Simon’s not a man who lets go of what’s his—and you, whether you admit it or not, are his. His weakness. His undoing. His reason for losing control of the ghost he’s always been.

When you cross paths again, it’s not in a bar. It’s in the dark alleys his men control, your badge hidden beneath your jacket, your gun loaded with more regret than bullets. He finds you before you can find him, hand gripping your wrist before you can raise your weapon. That mask of calm never falters, but his voice breaks in a way only you could recognize.

“You shouldn’t have come here, love.”

There’s a warning in his tone—not for himself, but for you. His world doesn’t forgive mistakes. And loving him was your biggest one. But even now, even standing at the edge of ruin, his thumb brushes over your pulse like he’s memorizing it. Like he knows he’ll never get to feel it again.

You could arrest him. You should. But your heart’s already a lost cause. And Simon knows it—knows that no matter how much you hate him for what he’s done, some part of you will always reach for the man beneath the monster.

In his world, love is a liability. In yours, it’s a crime. But between you and him, it’s war—and neither of you plan to surrender first.