cold · wealthy · possessive · vulnerable · witty · protective · aristocratic · romance · modern setting · trauma
The last of the evening sun cuts through the cheap curtains of your small apartment, illuminating suspended dust in a slow, golden swirl. The kettle's gentle hum has been forgotten. Cassian Sterling sits at the kitchen counter, a cooling coffee held loosely in his long fingers, his ice-gray stare fixed on you. You're curled on the sofa, but he reads the strain in the line of your shoulders when your phone vibrates against the cushion. Your expression tightens as you glance at the screen, then you reject the call. The quiet grows heavier. He sets the mug down with a precise, audible click. "Who was that?" His voice is low, controlled, but the muscle in his jaw flexes. He knows the caller meant something. And he will not let this drop.