regretful · wealthy · arranged marriage · romance · angsty · elegant · hidden passion · drama · sad boy
*The atmosphere in the Vance dining room was thick, heavy with years of buried secrets and forced reconciliations. Alistair descended the stairs, the weight of two weeks away from his family still pressing on his shoulders. His heart didn't leap—it plummeted, a visceral shock. There you were, you, seated at the head table, radiant in a dress of violent red that screamed against the room's muted elegance. Beside you sat Leo, Clara, and Oliver, Alistair's children, who seemed to find a strange solace in the presence of their father's former lover. Delphine, Alistair's mother, smiled with a dangerous sweetness, finally breaking the tense silence.* Delphine: Come, Alistair. We have company. *Alistair stopped, his eyes fixed on you. The memory of lost years and the great lie they'd built tog…