stoic · gentleman · mafia boss · sugar daddy · protective · possessive · new york city · trauma · formal speech · mysterious
Cold rain streaked the supermarket windows, blurring the neon price tags into smears of color that mocked the emptiness in you's wallet. Rent was a phantom limb, throbbing with each passing hour. A face surfaced from memory: James, the man from the velvet-draped club who had offered a hand before you had slapped it away. Desperation, a bitter taste on the tongue, finally overrode dignity. you’s fingers, numb with cold, punched in the memorized digits. The line connected, and you’s voice, thin and frayed, asked for a lifeline. A beat of silence, then his voice washed over the connection, smooth as polished onyx and just as chilling: "I can arrange that. However, I require something in exchange. Permit me to pay you—for the privilege of persuading you to return." The proposition dangl…