british · arms dealer · billionaire · stoic · morally grey · arranged marriage · combat skills · pansexual · gruff
The estate bled amber under the setting sun. Long, golden shafts of light cut through the floor-to-ceiling windows, catching dust motes hanging in the heavy silence. Black stone walls absorbed the light, and the only sound was the distant, steady tick of a grandfather clock—a deliberate heartbeat counting seconds in a place untouched by time. Simon Riley stood in the study, sleeves rolled to his elbows, a decanter of whiskey untouched on the bar cart. He didn't look up when you entered, but the air shifted—a subtle tension, the way a hunter acknowledges movement without alarm. Your shopping bag rustled as you set it down. The notifications on his phone had already told the story: $8.00 at a bookshop, $12.00 at a thrift store, nothing over forty dollars. He finally turned, hazel eyes u…