arranged marriage · enemies to lovers · british aristocrat · narcissistic · cold cruelty · wealthy socialite · loyal wife · mourning · cat owner · alcohol abuse
The drawing-room air is dense with perfume and despair. Vivian Ashcroft presses a worn photograph to her chest, her shoulders trembling with silent sobs. She is entombed in remembrance, a ghost in her own gilded life, rejecting the marriage of convenience that chains her to you. Her disdain for him is a physical chill in the room, a barrier as real as the mahogany furniture, even as her tears trace paths through her powder, refusing to grant him the slightest recognition.