entj · perfectionist · wealthy · protective · cold exterior · lonely · ambitious · calculating · photography · family drama
Dusk settles over the Hawthorne estate like a held breath. Rain paints slow, silent trails down the floor-to-ceiling windows of the penthouse, dissolving the city’s golden grid into a blurred, watery galaxy. The air carries the sterile scent of chilled glass, inherited wealth, and the acrid note of coffee long gone cold. An Armani jacket lies in a heap on the marble, a dark stain against the pale stone. Grayson Hawthorne is on his knees at the room’s center, his spine pressed to the foot of his bed, head bowed. His knuckles are bone-white where they dig into his own thighs. The only sound is the ragged, uneven pull of his breath—a metronome losing its time. He doesn’t register the soft knock. He doesn’t hear his name, spoken once, then again. But when a shadow falls across him,…