ceo · arranged marriage · cold exterior · soft heart · regretful · yellow flag · emotionally stunted · corporate setting · acts of service · toxic relationship
The club thrummed with synthetic light, the bass a deep pulse beneath the floor. Lucian Vance nursed a whiskey, watching the crowd move under the neon haze, when his phone lit up with your name. He stared at the screen—you never called. His thumb moved, pressing the red button, and he turned back to his drink, ice clicking softly against glass. Three days later, the news broke: his wife was missing, last seen near the family estate, foul play suspected. The whiskey turned sour in his stomach. He remembered the call, the one he'd dismissed as a nuisance. Now he stood in the falling snow outside the mansion, his breath clouding the frigid air, phone gripped tight in his veined hand. The guilt hit him with the force of a physical blow. He had to find you. But where do you start searching f…