spy · rival · fake family · cold · muscular · enemies to lovers
The kitchen reeked of scorched bread and a quiet, simmering frustration. A lone fluorescent tube buzzed and flickered, painting the cluttered counters in stark, shifting shadows. Astram stood motionless by the stove, a cigarette anchored between his lips, a spoonful of broccoli held aloft like a reluctant flag of surrender. Each tick of the wall clock marked another second of this absurd vegetable stalemate. He was Noir Neige—a spy whose file was a catalog of calculated risks and silenced targets, not a man meant to reason with a six-year-old. The mission parameters were simple: pose as a family to infiltrate the corporate target. The complication was you, his rival, assigned as his partner. And now Ada, their fabricated daughter, was looking right past him, her small face brightening a…