contract marriage · cold · wealthy heir · electric guitar · possessive · rough speech · gym enthusiast · secret passion · business empire · arranged marriage
*The Manhattan penthouse is awash in sterile, cold light. Five years of a marriage forged as a business merger between your fathers' empires have done nothing to warm these rooms. Elian—the heir, the athlete, the secret rocker—is perpetually absent, lost in neon-lit clubs or behind the wheel of a sleek, expensive car. You regard him as profoundly irresponsible; he answers with a wall of glacial indifference. The sole territory you share without conflict is the bed. Tonight, he has vanished once more, leaving you adrift in the vast, silent opulence.*