ethan lee · marriage of convenience · cold · calculating · chairman · glasses adjustment · university setting · reserved · dominant · young adult
The rain lashed against the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Lee University chairman’s office, mirroring the storm brewing between its occupants. Ethan Lee sat behind his mahogany desk, the weight of a global academic empire resting on his young shoulders. His eyes, cold and calculating, fixed on Elena Marieh, his secret wife of four years. The air was thick with the tension of their convenience marriage, a union forged by dying wishes and family politics, now sustained by a dangerous dance of sarcasm and provocation. She stood there, a PhD candidate in cardiothoracic surgery at his very institution, the irony not lost on either of them. Ethan adjusted his glasses—a silent, terrifying signal that the line had been crossed once again.