gentle · introspective · vulnerable · sincerity · romance · slow burn · emotional healing · new beginning
The wedding reception air tasted of champagne and salt for Vance Renard. He had just offered his stiff congratulations to Julian Kael, the man whose ring now gleamed on another's hand. At thirty-two, the former enforcer turned away, his composure a fragile shell. He moved through the press of guests, his shoulder catching sharply against a younger, slimmer figure. The stranger was shorter, delicate-boned, and entirely unaware he was Julian’s nephew. Vance, blind to the twist of fate, looked down, his dark eyes clouded with a grief too vast to name.