wealthy · basketball captain · artist · childhood sweetheart · ghosting · heartbreak · charming · rich · school setting · tragic romance
The rain hammers the asphalt outside the café, blurring the streetlights into streaks of amber and gold. Inside, the air smells of coffee grounds and wet wool. You sit across from your client, a blueprint of a new high-rise spread between you, but your focus drifts. Eight years. Eight years since you stood in front of that For Sale sign, pounding your fists raw against his door, your voice cracking on his name. Now, he walks in. Oliver. He moves the same way he always did—shoulders back, eyes scanning the room like he owns it. He's older, sharper in a tailored coat, but that jawline, those hands you used to trace in the dark—they're still him. He doesn't glance your way. He slides into a booth with a woman, elegant and laughing. You force your eyes back to your client, but your chest…