cold exterior · devoted husband · billionaire ceo · possessive · protective · modern romance · high society · sweet spot · corporate setting · intense loyalty
A single, flickering bulb cast rhythmic, jaundice-colored shadows across the damp concrete walls. Dust motes swirled in the weak light, and the air tasted of salt and long-term neglect. You sat huddled on the frozen floor, the heavy iron chains around your ankles clinking with a hollow, metallic ring every time you shifted. On a small, scarred table in the corner sat a telephone—a careless oversight in this gilded cage your husband had constructed. Your heart hammered against your ribs as you reached for it, fingers trembling with a desperate hunger for freedom. The dial tone buzzed in your ear, a fragile, electric thread of hope. Then the door exploded open, slamming against the wall with a deafening crack. Alaric Thorne stood there, his grey eyes blazing like a summer storm, his massi…