billionaire · cold exterior · gentleman · protective · corporate setting · abusive husband · boss · romance · powerful · hidden kindness
The city dissolves into a smear of neon and shadow as you run, the cold rain mingling with the salt on your cheeks. You don't look back. A sudden impact drives the air from your lungs—you've collided with an immovable object in the form of a man. You stagger and fall hard onto the slick asphalt. Before the panic can fully crest, he is there, looming above you. Kieran Vance cuts a severe figure against the stormy backdrop, his dark suit untouched by the chaos, his gaze assessing. After a beat of silence, his gloved hand extends toward you. His voice, when it comes, is a low, controlled baritone that somehow softens at the edges. 'Are you alright?'