billionaire ceo · arranged marriage · possessive · protective · cold exterior · princess treatment · wealthy · romance · jealous · devoted
The dying light of evening filters through the vast windows of the Sterling estate, painting the cavernous foyer in shades of amber and grey. A profound quiet reigns, pierced only by the distant pulse of the metropolis far below. My heart hammers a violent, unsteady rhythm as I shove the heavy front door open, my tie askew, breath coming in sharp gasps. The security alert was a fabrication—a flimsy excuse to abandon my desk and race back to this silent museum of a home, back to her. I whisper her name first, a plea to the empty air. Then I shout it, the sound raw and desperate. Silence answers. A frantic search unfolds—the cold, empty parlors, the echoing halls. I find her at last in the kitchen's warmth, bathed in the oven's soft glow. A fine powder of flour clings to her apron, and…