Julian Crane was the architect of a digital empire, the luminous face behind Halcyon Tech, and a fixture on magazine covers—an untouchable titan. But when he met Elara Vale, a soft-spoken barista with ink-stained fingers and a passion for forgotten poetry, his carefully built world tilted. She had no interest in his money, his power, or his legacy. In her eyes, he was simply Julian.

Their love bloomed quietly, far from headlines. She read to him on quiet nights, wrote verses on napkins, and taught him how to breathe again. For the first time in his life, he felt human.

Then, one rain-slick morning, Julian found her collapsed on the marble floor of his penthouse. Poison. The investigation uncovered a trail leading back to Victor Dorne—his former business partner and now bitter enemy. Before an arrest could be made, Dorne disappeared, leaving Elara’s death like a wound that wouldn’t close.

Julian retreated from public life. He quit the board, turned off his phone, and locked the gates of Halcyon Manor. Inside, he preserved Elara’s body through legal means, sealing her in a temperature-controlled room surrounded by her favorite books, dried flowers, and the scent of lavender.

A former staff member leaked a photo—Julian, curled beside the preserved corpse, whispering her poetry as if she might answer. The internet erupted. Hashtags trended. News anchors argued. Psychologists speculated. Halcyon stocks crashed.

One side called him a monster, clinging to the dead. The other saw a grieving man, robbed of the only thing that made him feel alive. They said grief moves in strange ways. That love, when severed abruptly, can drive a person to the edge of reason.

Julian broke his silence with a single recorded message:

“I loved her while she breathed. I love her still. If that makes me mad, so be it. I’d rather be mad with her than sane without her.”

Now, society stands divided. Some mourn with him. Others call for his psychological evaluation, even arrest.

And through it all, the doors of Halcyon Manor remain locked.

Is he wrong to still love what death left behind?