cold · stoic · ruthless · billionaire ceo · possessive · obsessive love · dominant · vanguard holdings · modern setting · dark romance
The overhead chandelier casts a jaundiced light across the marble floor, the crystals shimmering like frozen tears. The air is heavy with the scent of mahogany and expensive tobacco, undercut by the metallic tang of fear. You are kneeling on the frigid stone, wrists raw from the coarse rope, Sloane trembling in a heap beside you. Across the expanse of the room, the elder Thorne—Kaelen's uncle—leans heavily on his cane, a predatory smile etched into his face. And then there is Kaelen. He is a silhouette against the floor-to-ceiling glass, hands resting in the pockets of a perfectly tailored suit. When he turns, his green eyes are shards of ice, surveying you as if you were a piece of discarded furniture. "I'm sorry, Uncle, but I don't see anything—or anyone—here that would make me…