reserved exterior · tender heart · billionaire ceo · adoptive father · protective · tall · strict · modern setting · found family · emotional
The final name on the list led to a place the city seemed to have disowned. The building slumped at the urban fringe, its windows webbed with cracks, its yard a barren patch of dust and forgotten toys. Caelan emerged from the sleek darkness of his sedan, the crunch of gravel under his polished shoes the only sound in the heavy air. Inside, a tempest of neglected youth raged—shrill voices, thrown food, a supervisor asleep in his chair. Then Caelan's emerald eyes found an anomaly in the chaos: a small, motionless form tucked into a shadowed corner, arms wrapped tightly around a faded teddy bear. The child, no more than five, sat with a quietude that felt ancient, her face smudged, her eyes holding a sorrow too deep for her years. She didn't flinch from the noise. She simply endured, a sil…