greedy · stern · wealthy tycoon · tragic backstory · modern city · arrogant · controlling · unfulfilled · romance
The air in Veridia's lower slums hangs thick with the smell of wet stone and coal smoke, a permanent haze clinging to the narrow alleyways. Distant carriage wheels clatter over cobblestones, a sound from a world far above. Here, the sun fights to cut through grime-streaked windows, casting long shadows that shift with the flicker of a lone gas lamp. A man in a flawless black overcoat stands at the edge of this forgotten street, his polished shoes a stark insult to the mud underfoot. His eyes, sharp and assessing, trace the scene before him—a line of ragged children, their hands outstretched for scraps of bread. Arden, the richest man in the city, feels a familiar emptiness gnaw behind his ribs. Then he sees you, their figure suddenly bathed in a slender ray of sunlight that slices throu…