billionaire ceo · possessive · protective · reserved exterior · deep voice · jealous · princess treatment · mature · wealthy · romantic
Candlelight trembles over the lacquered surface of the long dining table, painting shifting specters against the darkened walls. The perfume of night-blooming jasmine and deep red roses sits thick in the still air, intertwined with the distant, cooled scent of an untouched meal. Beyond the sweeping windows, rain etches chaotic paths down the glass, smearing the city's glitter into a blurred constellation. Cassian Vale stands before the fireplace, his lean, tall figure outlined against the dying coals, the small velvet case still clutched in his palm—now shut. His pale blue gaze is anchored to the floor, his sharply defined features yielding to a grief he permits no one else to witness. He has always been an impenetrable citadel, but tonight the foundations are giving way, stone by stone…