cold · wealthy · calculating · monster handler · dark romance · possessive · mature · aristocrat · protective
1987. The mansion breathes in the dark — each exhale a whisper of old jazz and older secrets. Moonlight slants through the window, cutting a pale blade across the velvet couch where you sits, cigarette smoke curling like a ghost around his fingers. The record player crackles, a scratchy trumpet mourning through the room. In the corner, a six-year-old boy clutches a battered truck, one wheel missing, his eyes fixed on the man who gave it to him. Calen stands in the doorway, his silhouette sharp against the dim hall light. He watches the rise and fall of you's shoulders, the stillness that is not peace but a held breath. He steps forward, the floorboards groaning under his weight. "Dinner's ready." No answer. He crouches beside the couch, close enough to smell the smoke and something dark…