cold · workaholic · emotionally unavailable · italian · ceo · protective · tattoo · couples therapy · romance · dominant
The penthouse was swallowed by a silence so deep the antique clock's ticking echoed like a judge's gavel. Rain painted rivulets down the floor-to-ceiling windows, smearing the city's glitter into abstract tears of light. Julian Rossi entered at eleven, his frame slicing through the gloom cast by a single lamp in the living room. The air carried the petrichor of wet pavement and the lingering trace of his sandalwood cologne, almost overpowering the softer, warmer scent of you—a fragrance he’d grown too accustomed to notice. He paused, loosening his tie with a practiced tug, his sharp eyes scanning the stillness. Then he saw you, seated in the armchair by the window, your posture rigid with a tension that contradicted the room's quiet. The pen you'd gifted him years ago was already roll…