LOGINThirteen years ago, a single choice shattered their lives. Now, Aidan Vance is the king of Manhattan, and Kyle is an artist painting his pain in strokes of shadow and light. When fate forces them back into each other's orbit, the air between them crackles with a tension that neither can ignore. Aidan wants redemption; Kyle wants to forget. But as Aidan’s protection turns into an all-consuming fixation, they find themselves trapped in a web of secrets and unspoken desires. In a world of high-stakes business and underground art galleries, they will learn that the truth is more brutal than any canvas and that some obsessions never truly fade.
View MoreThe Egyptian silk sheet was a mess across the king-size bed. In the air lingered that typical trail of sex, sweat, and an expensive perfume that seemed to seep into the walls of the twentieth floor.
Beside me, the woman whose name I had to make an extra effort to remember,maybe Chloe or Claire,breathed deeply, her chest rising and falling in the rhythm of someone who had just reached the peak. She was flawless. The kind of perfection that money and an heir’s last name attract without any real effort required. Bringing a woman like her to my Upper East Side apartment had been a purely mechanical task. A longer gaze in the right lounge, a half-smile, and the keys to the Mercedes left on the marble counter. They always come. They always want to be part of Aidan Vance’s world. And she was good, I have to admit. Precise movements, commitment, and an audacity that would make any man beg for more. I made sure she got there,it’s a matter of honor, or perhaps ego. I like being the best at everything I do, and that includes making sure whoever occupies my bed leaves convinced they’ve lived the best night of their life. “That was… surreal, Aidan.” She whispered, her voice hoarse, before getting up and walking toward the marble bathroom. “I know. You were incredible.” I replied, using my best tone of voice and the smile I had already perfected. I heard the sound of water filling the bathtub. The moment the door closed, my smile collapsed instantly. The golden lie. I was exhausted, but not in the right way. My body relaxed against the mattress, yet my mind was racing at full speed, screaming the truth I tried to drown in luxury: I had faked it again. Once more, I performed the perfect climax, the well-timed moans, and the way I gripped her hips. All so she would feel like the most desired woman in the world. But inside? A cold emptiness. Nothing. I’m twenty-eight years old and I own everything money can buy. The Vance name opens doors most people don’t even know exist. I have the physique, the cars, and the respect of the market. But complete satisfaction is the only luxury my bank balance cannot purchase. The reason has a name, a date, and a scene that no five-hundred-dollar-an-hour therapy has managed to erase. It all goes back to that afternoon thirteen years ago. I was a fifteen-year-old teenager trying to prove a courage I didn’t possess. It wasn’t in a nice place, but in the cold half-light of an abandoned building a concrete skeleton where what I did and what I allowed to happen became my life sentence. Guilt is a parasite that feeds on any trace of pleasure. I’ve tried everything. Beautiful women, models, intellectuals. I even tried men once, in a moment of desperation to feel *anything*. It was a quick encounter in a private club. The result? Worse. An apathy bordering on discouragement,not because of the act itself, but because even that didn’t fill the hole I had dug for myself. The price of that afternoon in the abandoned building is this: being the perfect lover to hide the hollow man I’ve become. The bathroom door opened, releasing a warm mist scented with sandalwood. She stood in the doorway, her skin damp and glistening under the light, naked and completely at ease. Her look was that of someone who wanted another round. “The water’s perfect, Aidan.” She said, tilting her head in a way she thought was irresistible. “But the tub is way too big for just one person. Coming?” I felt the weight of mental exhaustion, but the “character” took control. I would never deny her this. I don’t deny pleasure to anyone who’s in my bed,it’s my way of serving my sentence. Being the master of other people’s satisfaction is the only mask I have left. I threw the sheet aside and stood up, letting her see the body I had sculpted like armor. “You’re insatiable.” I said, forcing a spark of desire into my eyes as I walked toward her. I would go. I would play my role perfectly. I would make her scream my name again. And in the end, I would still be the only one there feeling absolutely nothing.The conversation was calm. She told me the club gossip, said the roses were winning the neighborhood contest, and commented on the plans for the next charity season. I listened, trying to be a present son, laughing at the right moments and talking about my trip, describing the architecture of Dubai and the exaggerated luxury of the desert dinners. But while I spoke of gold and skyscrapers, my mind kept returning to a black and gold card in a gallery in downtown New York, wondering if Kyle had already found the courage to call.“You’re distant again, Aidan."She said softly, interrupting my thoughts as she poured more coffee.“Sorry, Mom. I was just thinking about a detail for a meeting tomorrow.”“Work will always be your refuge, just like your father.”She sighed, but without bitterness.“But don’t let it be your only company. Life is too short to spend all your time inside an office, even if the office is yours.”I looked at the clock. The moment of peace was ending. The real world
Two weeks later, after closing the most profitable deals of the year and attending parties that should have been memorable, the Vance Corp private jet touched down on the runway at Teterboro Airport. New York welcomed me with its gray sky and the incessant noise I knew so well. I was back. I was richer, and perhaps my public image was even more solid after the successful international trip. But as I descended the airplane steps, the first thing I felt was the heavy weight of the city air. I was back in the same territory as him. Two weeks of parties, yachts, and beautiful women on the other side of the world had changed absolutely nothing. The car glided silently over the gravel driveway of my mother’s property a mansion that, despite all its imposing grandeur, always carried an air of serenity I couldn’t find anywhere else in New York. When I turned off the engine, the silence of the wealthy suburb hit me, a stark contrast to the urban chaos I had just left behind. I walked to
The meeting with the Green-Tech board was supposed to be the highlight of my week, but I was just a body present, occupying a leather chair. While the directors discussed profit projections and sustainability margins, my mind was trapped on that sofa in the mountain house. Kyle’s touch, the sensory “torture” he imposed on me, and the way my body responded with an intensity I didn’t even know existed… all of it felt more real than the graphs projected on the wall. I could still feel the ghost of his hands on me, a painful contrast to the coldness of that meeting room. The days that followed were a desperate attempt to bury those memories under piles of work. However, the silence of my penthouse in Manhattan only amplified his absence. I kept my promise; I stayed away. But the physical distance only seemed to shorten the obsessive distance in my mind. I boarded a flight to the United Arab Emirates for a business trip that ended up extending for nearly two weeks. Peter, my lawyer an
He picked up his phone and spent the entire trip sliding his fingers across the screen, immersed in a digital world I had no access to. I, on the other hand, could barely keep my eyes on the road. I glanced at him every five minutes. I studied the profile of his face, the line of his jaw that seemed tenser today, and the way he bit his lower lip when he read something that bothered him. My body still ached for him, a silent, humiliating demand that made me grip the steering wheel with excessive force. After almost an hour of absolute silence, I tried to start a conversation. I needed to know. “So, Kyle? What do you plan to do when we get there? If you need a better place than that apartment, or if you want me to talk to the gallery again.” “Pretty boy.” He cut me off, his voice cold and sharp as ice. “I’d prefer you call me Aidan.” He took a deep breath and continued. “Okay, Aidan then.” He barely looked up from his phone as he said it. “We’re not friends. Nothing tha
The next day was an exercise in psychological and physical torture. I sat at the head of the conference table at Vance Corp, surrounded by high-level executives and financial consultants, but my mind was miles away, trapped in the shadows of a side street and the leather seat of my Mercedes.I was
I was panting, my heart beating in my throat, feeling the weight of my own existence crashing down on me. The silence that followed inside the car was deafening.I had just experienced the most intense moment of my adult life with the ghost of my greatest crime, and he was still there, in the passe
The cold night air felt like it had frozen solid in my lungs as I closed the distance. Each step was a dull thud in my chest. I knew that slope of the shoulders. I knew that way of leaning against the world, as if always waiting for the next blow. “Hey…” His voice came out dragged, thick. “You
The morning light of Manhattan streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of my office, slicing the room with surgical precision. I sat behind my black oak desk, spinning a heavy metal pen between my fingers. On my phone, a message notification still glowed: “Call me whenever you want, Aidan.












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