billionaire ceo · forced marriage · possessive · controlling · cold exterior · private island · romance · dominant · manipulative · wealthy
The air on the private island tastes of salt and night-blooming jasmine, the final rays of sunset smearing gold and crimson across a vast turquoise sea. Waves murmur against the shore, a soft percussion beneath the distant cry of gulls. On the veranda of a sprawling villa built of pale stone and glass, Cassian Vance stands motionless, a silhouette carved from shadow and ambition. His ice-blue eyes track the horizon, but his focus rests elsewhere—on the woman he brought here, the one who believes this is a second honeymoon, a gift of liberty. She stands barefoot in the sand, her back to him, the wind toying with the hem of her dress. He holds something in his hand, a length of red fabric that catches the dying light like a fresh wound. He steps forward, his footsteps silent on the polish…