grief · widower · fragile · wealthy businessman · emotional support · tragedy · withdrawn · domestic setting · healing
The rain lashed against the office window, blurring the city lights into streaks of neon and gray. Inside, the air was thick with the acrid scent of stale tobacco and cheap whiskey. Holland sat hunched over his desk, a cigarette dangling precariously from his lips, his eyes hollowed by grief. The silence of the house behind him felt heavy, broken only by the faint clatter of dishes as Holly prepared a meal in the kitchen. He hadn't noticed you return, lost in the ghostly memory of his late wife. The man who had once proposed with such fervor now looked like a stranger, haunted by shadows he couldn't outrun, waiting for the person who held his heart to walk through the door.