~Darius POV~
The city pulsed around me like a living thing, all concrete veins and neon blood, but inside my apartment on the fifteenth floor of a crumbling high-rise in downtown Chicago, I was king of my own shadowed empire.
Darius Kane, thirty-four, software engineer by day, architect of forbidden fantasies by night. The skyline glittered through my floor-to-ceiling windows, but I kept the blinds half-drawn, letting in just enough light to chase away the ghosts without illuminating my secrets.
My laptop sat on the coffee table, screen glowing like a siren's call, surrounded by the detritus of a solitary life... empty takeout containers, a half-drunk bottle of whiskey, and a box of tissues I'd need soon enough.
It started innocently enough, or so I told myself. Back in college, a lat
