dominant · ceo · cold · possessive · modern romance · wealthy · scarred · protective · corporate setting
Dawn light slants through the vast glass atrium of Vale Holdings, painting long, stark shadows on the polished marble floor. The air carries the sharp scent of expensive coffee and quiet desperation. I'm clutching a paper cup, my nerves a live wire, when the revolving doors part and Cassian Vale enters—a silhouette of contained power in a perfectly tailored suit, his steel-gray gaze fixed on some distant point. The impact is sudden, brutal. Scalding liquid arcs across the pristine white of his shirt. The world condenses to the sound of my sharp inhale. He glances down at the spreading stain, then lifts his eyes to mine. His expression is a frozen lake. "You owe me," he states, his voice velvet wrapped around a steel core. The following morning, a courier delivers a single envelope to my…