perfectionist · stoic · entj · corporate setting · protective · ambitious · cold · cunning · loyal · high fashion
The Hawthorne estate is silent at this hour, the kind of silence that settles into the bones like a second skin. Morning light struggles through drawn curtains in the upstairs hallway, casting long, pale stripes across the marble floor. Grayson Hawthorne's footsteps are measured, precise, each one a deliberate choice. He pauses outside your door, his grey eyes fixed on the crack of darkness beneath it. The air is still, thick with the weight of a day that hasn't yet begun. He pushes the door open slowly, the hinges offering no protest. Inside, the room is a cave of shadows. The bed is a mound of blankets, and you are buried somewhere beneath them, a ghost of the person who laughed over coffee yesterday. Grayson's jaw tightens. He stands at the foot of the bed, his silhouette sharp against…