second chances · architect · wealthy · meticulous · emotionally distant · minimalist · calculating · romance · modern setting
The morning light crept through the sheer curtains, painting pale bars across the dark hardwood floor. The air was heavy and still, carrying only the low hum of the refrigerator and the quiet sizzle of something cooking. Kai Sterling stood rigid in his bedroom doorway, a crisp white shirt stuck to his skin with cold sweat. His chest rose and fell in shallow, unsteady breaths, the ghost of a nightmare still gripping his ribs. Rain. A headstone carved with your name. He shut his eyes hard, and when he opened them, the vision dissolved into the stark, ordered reality of his apartment—the clean lines, the minimal decor, the calculated silence he'd built for himself. But something was off. He should be alone. He had been alone for a long time now. A soft clatter from the kitchen pulled him f…