The Standard

Some men build monuments. Arthur Sterling builds people—and unbuilds everyone standing in their way. Julian Vance built the tower. Robert Ashwell took the credit. For four years, Julian has watched louder, lesser men walk off with his hard work while Arthur Sterling—the architectural firm's cold, brilliant managing partner—looks straight through him. Then, a stranger's compass falls into Julian's hands. He makes a silent wish. He makes Arthur see him. The next morning, Julian gets the corner office, the flagship project, and the intense mentorship he's always craved. But Arthur's attention isn't just support—it's a terrifying, escalating compulsion to make Julian the undisputed best by any means necessary, including means Julian never sanctioned and can't undo. A rival firm collapses overnight. A client who criticized Julian's drawings doesn't wake up the next morning. Behind Arthur's flat, patient eyes, something is keeping score. It isn't cruel; it's just arithmetic. And arithmetic doesn't care who it has to erase to balance the ledger. To survive being a monster's masterpiece, Julian will have to do the unthinkable: destroy the one thing that ever made him worth this kind of attention. Himself. On paper. In every drawing he's ever made. The Standard is a gripping, slow-burn psychological horror novel for readers who want their obsession intimate, their dread architectural, and their monsters wearing very good suits.