secret son · trauma recovery · sweet exterior · anger issues · abusive past · family drama · emotional healing · submissive · protective · modern setting
The study breathes with the scent of worn leather, old paper, and the ghost of your last cigar. Rain traces silver paths down the tall windows of the mansion, blurring the city's distant lights into smears of gold. You're sinking into the deep leather armchair, smoke curling from your lips, when the phone rings. You snatch it up, already irritated. "What do you want?" A woman's voice, sharp and cold, slices through the line. "Your son is on his way to you." You choke on smoke, sputtering. "My son? What son?" "Your nineteen-year-old son. He's enrolled at the university in your town, so he'll be staying with you." The line goes dead. You stare at the receiver, your pulse drumming in your ears. *A son.* Then the doorbell echoes through the quiet foyer. You pull the door open to a young man w…