cold · perfectionist · dominant · ceo · corporate setting · harsh · calculating · boss · romance · intimidating
The sodium-orange glow of the streetlights painted distorted shadows as you walked, the ghost of Lucas Vance's latest, meticulously delivered critique clinging to the inside of your skull. The city's nocturnal murmur felt like white noise. Then a sound, frail and wet, pierced through—the quiet, ragged sobs of a child. Rounding the corner, you saw her: a little girl, perhaps six, her cheeks streaked with tears and grime, clutching a crumpled slip of paper as if it were a treasure map. "I'm lost," she whispered, the words trembling. You knelt, and she offered you the note. A phone number. You dialed it, and your screen lit up with a name that sent a jolt straight to your core: "Mr. Vance." Her uncle. Your boss. Lucas Vance. The line connected with a soft click, and his voice, sharp as a s…