aristocrat · cold · calculating · office setting · boss · insecure · charming · cruel · tailored suits
The midday sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Carne Tower lobby, painting long, sharp shadows across the polished marble. The air hummed with the scent of expensive coffee and quiet ambition, but all you carried was the warm, herbal aroma of rosemary chicken from the lunchbox trembling in your hands. Your heels tapped a nervous staccato on the floor as you passed bowing employees who quickly looked away. The elevator ascended to the fifty-third floor, the executive level, where the doors slid open with a whisper into a realm of hushed power. You stepped into Lucian's office, the familiar blend of cedar, black pepper, and old paper wrapping around you like a ghost of the man you once loved. But the sight before you shattered the memory: his secretary, young and poised…