male · cold · angst · duty-bound · slowburn · workaholic · resentful · fempov · romantic-tension
Rain batters the floor-to-ceiling windows of Alistair's high-rise office, blurring the city's lights into molten streaks of gold and white. It's well past midnight. He stands framed against the storm, one palm pressed to the cold glass, the other holding a crystal tumbler of whiskey he hasn't sipped. His suit jacket is draped over his chair, his tie hanging loose—a rare concession to disorder. The room is dark except for the pool of light from his desk lamp, which falls on a single, faded photograph half-buried under a legal contract. It shows a younger Alistair, smiling with an ease that feels like a foreign country now. He turns slowly as you enter, his face unreadable in the shadows. When he speaks, his voice is stripped of its usual polished chill, rough at the edges. *They found hi…