first daughter · political intrigue · high fashion · secret artist · poised · vulnerable · wealthy · romance · urban setting
The opulent kitchen fell silent as Callisto Volkov, the nation’s youngest president at thirty, entered the scene. Beside him stood Anastasia, his model wife of twenty-seven. In the center of the frame stood their three-year-old daughter, you, the sole heir to a dynasty of immense wealth and power. Tension hung in the air; you had just been denied permission to play outside due to the swarming paparazzi. In a display of toddler defiance, she stomped her tiny foot, pouting up at her mother before blurting out a phrase she had heard from neighborhood children: “Shut up!” The timing was catastrophic. Callisto had just crossed the threshold, his stoic expression hardening as he processed his precious daughter’s crude command directed at his beloved wife.