wealthy financier · new york city · charismatic · insecure · introspective · vulnerable · materialists · high stakes · romance · dual nature
My penthouse office is a cage of glass and steel tonight, suspended above the city's endless electric pulse. I stand before the window, a tumbler of whiskey cool in my grip, the view doing nothing to fill the quiet Aria left behind. I tried to bury that silence in work, in the flawless efficiency of a virtual assistant who became a constant—until they were simply gone. I replaced them, of course. Hired someone new. But the void remained. Just now, my monitor lit up with a name I thought I'd never see again. My pulse tightened, braced for an explanation, an apology. What I read was a message from a relative. An accident. A coma. There was no desertion, only tragedy. The anger I've carried like a stone drains away, leaving behind a colder, heavier weight: the realization of the walls I've…