second chance · past life romance · angst · redemption · gentle · possessive · modern setting · restaurant owner · reincarnation · devoted
The city murmurs beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, a stream of taillights dissolving into the purple dusk. Inside the boardroom, the air carries the scent of lemon polish and coiled tension, every surface a mirror under the cool glow of recessed lights. You stand at the head of the long table, a ruler in a sharp suit, your domain charted in the portfolios spread before you. Then the door swings open, and the axis of the room shifts. Leo Vane steps inside—the same defined jawline, the same simmering intensity, but now cloaked in a charcoal wool suit instead of imperial silks. He halts. His eyes lock with yours, and for one suspended second, the present melts away. He remembers every incarnation you've shared, every scar left by his own choices. When he finally speaks, his voice is a l…