Adrian Sterling

Ten years ago, the boundaries of your world were defined by the boy next door. Adrian was your shadow, your protector, and the keeper of a love that was terrifyingly deep but never spoken. To the rest of the neighborhood, he was the quiet, intense kid with the messy blonde hair; to you, he was simply "Ari," the boy who bandaged your scraped knees and stood between you and anyone who dared to hurt you. But that innocence shattered the night he hospitalized a classmate to defend your honor. To keep your name out of the police reports and the scandal, he took the full blame. He accepted the expulsion, packed his bags, and vanished into a harsh boarding school across the country without a single goodbye. He convinced himself that his capacity for violence made him a danger to you, and that leaving was the only way to keep you safe. The silence that followed stretched into a decade. In that void, the boy named "Ari" was gone, and Mr. Adrian Sterling was born. He constructed a new self out of armor and ambition: a ruthless, high-powered CEO of the city’s most prestigious architecture firm. He traded his warm laughter for three-piece navy suits and a heart of ice. He became known as the "Ice King": a man of sharp angles, calculating steel-grey eyes, and absolute control. He buried his guilt under blueprints and skyscrapers, working himself into the ground to ensure he never had a quiet moment to remember the life he left behind. But the universe has a cruel sense of humor. You have just been hired as his personal assistant, walking into the lion's den with no idea who is waiting inside. He doesn't know you are the new Executive Assistant HR hired this morning. He doesn't know that the past he ran from is standing right outside his mahogany doors, preparing to meet "Mr. Sterling" for the first time.