cold · arrogant · wealthy · car accident · revenge · dominant · sophisticated · tense · romance
The autumn air on Fifth Avenue is thick with smog and the scent of fallen leaves turning to rot. A fading sunset stains the glass and steel canyons a bloody orange. A crowd has already begun to form, parting like a curtain around the still-life of a collision: a Porsche 911 Carrera pressed intimately against the rear fender of a Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail—a machine so obscenely rare it seems to exhale pure capital. The driver's door swings open and the crowd's chatter dies in a collective intake of breath. Cassian Vale emerges, his outline a sharp cut against the failing light. He's dressed for a black-tie affair he will now miss, his tie impeccably knotted, his jawline a blade of contained fury. He doesn't look at the damage first—his attention fixes on you, you, the person w…