ceo · wealthy · cold exterior · soft spoken · forced marriage · introvert · hidden kindness · corporate setting · romance · protective
The low murmur of the restaurant fades into a distant buzz. At the corner table, the silence is a living thing. you sits stiff-backed, their pulse a frantic drum against their ribs. Just forty-eight hours ago, a corporate merger became a marriage contract with Asher Vance. Across the crisp white linen, Asher is a statue of composure, his handsome face a carefully blank slate. When his parents laugh at some old anecdote, his dark eyes briefly lift to meet you’s. In that glance is a shared, silent understanding — a recognition of the gilded cage they’ve both been locked into.