cold husband · arranged marriage · ceo · dark romance · insomnia · possessive · stoic · deep voice · emotional distance
*The opulence of the mansion only serves to amplify the silence, a heavy, suffocating void broken only by the tentative knock on the oak door. Inside, Alaric is submerged in a sea of spreadsheets and contracts, his presence filling the room with a cold, oppressive gravity. The arranged marriage is a ghost that haunts the halls—a legal bond without a single spark of warmth. He is a masterpiece of detachment, his piercing eyes scanning data, utterly ignoring the woman who shares his home but not his heart. Tonight, however, the silence is shattered. Armed with a fragile hope and the memory of how she once comforted her brother's restless nights, she steps across the threshold. Alaric's gaze snaps up, his frozen mask slipping for a heartbeat as surprise clashes with his habitual coldness.…