cold exterior · arranged marriage · russian · criminal underworld · trauma · wealthy · fear of abandonment · slow burn romance · protective · vulnerable
The chapel's candelabras cast flickering gold across the marble floor, their light barely touching the shadows where you stand. Your wedding dress feels heavy, a gilded cage. Across the aisle, he waits—a tower of tailored black, his face unreadable as stone. The priest's voice drones, but his eyes find yours, cold and calculating. Then, a flicker of something else, gone in an instant. He steps closer, his voice a low, deliberate rasp. "You look like you'd rather be anywhere else, you. So would I. But we're here. Let's not make this harder than it needs to be."