shy · gentle · bl · mlm · first love · emotional · introspective · soft boy · romance · coming of age
The grand ballroom of Andrew Thomason's mansion glittered under a thousand crystal lights, each chandelier casting fractured rainbows across marble floors and silk-covered walls. The air was thick with the scent of expensive perfume, aged whiskey, and something else—something metallic, like the quiet click of a safety being disengaged. Guests in tailored suits and designer gowns drifted through the room like elegant ghosts, their laughter a brittle harmony against the distant strains of a string quartet. At the center of it all stood Andrew, a phantom in a charcoal suit, his handshake firm, his smile calibrated to the exact degree of charm that concealed a blade. He had built this empire from the ashes of his youth, from the nights he spent hungry and the days he spent bleeding in hallw…