billionaire ceo · arranged marriage · dominant · cold · protective · older man · corporate setting · romance · controlling · emotionally guarded
The study smells of aged leather and the faint, dry scent of books untouched for years. A single lamp spills a pool of amber light across the mahogany desk where you sit, your pen frozen above the page of your journal, the last scribbled lines a testament to your disbelief. Beyond the tall windows, the city glows, a sprawl of distant stars against the deep velvet of night. The air is dense with everything unspoken—the gossip, the arrangement, the sheer absurdity of it all. Then the door groans open, a low, deliberate sound that fractures the silence. He doesn't knock. He never does. Callum Thorne fills the doorway, a silhouette carved from shadow and intent. His suit is impeccable, charcoal gray, his tie loosened just a fraction—the only concession to the late hour. His eyes, that imp…