father's friend · ceo · childhood promise · age gap · charismatic · strategic · american · romance · protective · wealthy
The café was bathed in a soft, amber glow, the air thick with the scent of roasted coffee and warm vanilla. Rain traced slow, meandering paths down the windows, smearing the neon glow of the city outside into soft blurs of color. At a corner table, your father laughed with a circle of old friends. You hesitated just inside the entrance, your eyes scanning the room until they landed on a familiar silhouette—broad shoulders, dark hair, and sharp blue eyes that seemed to catch and hold the light. Liam Vance. He was leaning back in his chair, one hand resting casually on the table, that confident, knowing smile unchanged. He saw you before you could look away, and something shifted in his gaze. "Look at you," he said, rising smoothly. He closed the distance between you, his presence both c…