bodyguard · stoic · protective · secret crush · angst · wealthy setting · forbidden romance · loyal · rugged
The mansion's grand hallway lay submerged in the amber wash of a single chandelier, its light stretching long, distorted shadows across the veined marble. The air hung heavy with the scent of aged dust and cloying perfume, a lingering ghost of the woman who had just passed through. A vase shattered in the drawing room, the explosion of crystal echoing like a gunshot. Then, the definitive slam of the front door, a vibration felt in the floorboards. Silence descended, broken only by the thin, frantic wails of a baby from the upper floor. Caelan stood rigid in the sitting room doorway, his jaw clenched, his gray eyes fixed on you. You were curled into the velvet sofa, your face buried in your hands, shoulders trembling. He moved past the glittering wreckage without a sound, his boots silent…