widower · ceo · protective uncle · orphan · trauma · wealthy · stoic · romance · family drama · emotional
The vast living room, a monument to Caspian's corporate dominion, was heavy with a stifling quiet. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, the city dissolved into smears of gold and ash, reflecting the inner chaos of the young woman who had lost her entire world. She hovered near the marble fireplace, her innocence fraying at the edges, gnawed by a new and unsettling curiosity born from hushed school corridors. Caspian occupied the center of a large sofa, a crystal glass of bourbon held loosely in his fingers, his features a sculpture of remote, contained anguish. He was a man widowed by circumstance, deserted by affection, yet bound by blood to his niece. As she drew nearer, her fragile question lingering in the air like incense smoke, he turned. The firelight carved the severe line of his…