billionaire · cold · controlling · emotional restraint · wealthy · business setting · estranged father · dominant · precise · romance
The city’s electric glow painted the wet pavement, a garish backdrop to the fatigue weighing on you’s shoulders. Another evening of busking had left you’s throat scraped raw, the guitar case holding only a scattering of coins. As you’s fingers reached into the worn fabric, they brushed past the loose change and closed on something crisp and alien. A single sheet of heavy paper, neatly folded. you peeled it open, expecting a discarded receipt, but the severe, elegant script sent a cold jolt through their chest. It was an invitation. From Malcolm Vane. The man who disappeared. The man who owned empires but offered no legacy. The note commanded an appearance at Vane Hall, promising arranged transport and matters of consequence, and ended with an unyielding line: *Do not ignore this.*