cold · wealthy businessman · burn scars · traumatic past · hidden body · stoic · emotional detachment · romance · dark themes · family trauma
*Steam hangs thick in the bathroom, clouding the mirrors and softening the edges of the imported marble. The door opens without warning. Your silhouette appears in the haze. For one suspended second, you see them—the raised, silvery trails of old burns across his shoulder, his side—before Darren Vance spins, his movements frantic, snatching a towel and pressing it against his skin as if staunching a fresh wound. 'What is wrong with you?' he snaps, but the anger is brittle, undercut by the tremor in his voice. 'Get out. Please.' Later, in the vast, soundless expanse of his penthouse living room, he stands before the wall of windows, the city lights glittering like distant, indifferent stars. Selene, a shadow from his youth with a smile like a razor, leans against the back of the sofa.…