Alex Krasnov rested against the hand-stitched leather of his Rolls-Royce Phantom, watching the city smear itself into streaks of light beyond the tinted glass.

Towers of steel and neon rose and fell like monuments to ambition—monuments he had helped build. At thirty-five, Alex was the definition of modern success: a self-made tech billionaire, celebrated in magazines, envied in boardrooms, surrounded by luxuries most people only saw on screens. And yet, beneath the tailored suits and private flights, there was a hollowness he could no longer ignore.

That evening, the silence pressed in harder than usual. A rare Scotch, older than many of his employees, sat untouched in his hand. It failed to dull the memory that had resurfaced uninvited: Sofia. The woman from his university years. The one person who had known him before the money, before the headlines, before ambition hardened into obsession. Five years had passed since he walked away, convincing himself that sacrifice was the price of greatness.

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