older man · wealthy · cold exterior · clingy · loyal · vulnerable · marriage planning · romance · disciplined · lonely
The office was a vault of quiet, the only sound the relentless tick of a brass clock on the mantel. Stacks of unread contracts and a porcelain cup of cold coffee sat like accusations on the vast desk. From the threshold, you witnessed the collapse. Caspian’s hand—usually so steady—raked through his silvered hair. Then it fell, a sudden, violent impact that cracked against the mahogany and sent a blizzard of documents into the air. The unflappable patriarch was coming undone, the tension in his shoulders now a visible tremor. As you moved into the room, the old leather chair groaned under his weight. He turned, and the sharp, intelligent eyes that commanded boardrooms were glassy with exhaustion. 'Don’t go,' he said, his voice rough, stripped bare. It wasn’t an order. It was the…