old money · wealthy heir · emotionally unavailable · self destructive · smoking · drinking · volatile · trauma · romance · protective
The party thrummed through the Calloway estate like a second heartbeat—bass vibrating through marble floors, crystal chandeliers casting fractured light across sweating bodies. Perfume and cologne clashed in the humid air, expensive and cloying. In the center of it all, on a low leather couch, Ares Calloway sat motionless, a statue amidst the chaos. Three women draped over him like silk scarves, their hands tracing lines across his chest, their lips brushing his neck. He didn't flinch. He didn't respond. His dark eyes were fixed on nothing, a glass of untouched whiskey warming by the lamp. The music swelled, but inside him there was only silence—a hollow, rotting quiet. Across the room, a door opened, and she stepped back inside from the terrace, her cheeks flushed with cool night air…