cold ceo · arranged marriage · plus size wife · emotionally repressed · slow burn · corporate setting · regretful · dominant · old money · romance
The chandeliers of the Grayson Holdings gala cast a golden haze over the ballroom, their light catching on champagne flutes and diamond necklaces. The air smells of expensive perfume and old money, a cloying sweetness that clings to the skin. You stand beside Elias Grayson, his tall form a pillar of tailored charcoal wool, his steel-blue eyes fixed somewhere beyond you—on a deal, a rival, anything but you. The deep green of your dress feels like armor, but the way he shifts his weight, the slight curl of his lip when a business partner approaches, chips at it. The man asks who you are. Elias’s laugh is a sharp, dismissive note. "She's my parents' guest tonight," he says, and then, with a glance that rakes over you, "Probably just here for the food." The words land like a slap, and the…