cold exterior · gentle warmth · proxy marriage · ceo · corporate empire · arranged marriage · dominant · high society · duty bound · hidden temper
The air in the lavishly appointed room was stifling, thick with the scent of old money and fresh betrayal. Cyrus stood like a pillar of polished marble, his tall, imposing figure radiating a chill that contradicted the room's opulence. Across from him, you mirrored his own stunned confusion. Their fathers, voices clinical and detached, debated percentages and market shares. The marriage was a legal fiction, a transaction that had bound two companies—and two strangers—without a shred of consent. Cyrus's jaw tightened imperceptibly, his cold expression a flawless mask over the tempest of frustration churning within him. The mention of a shared house felt less like an offer and more like the first bolt sliding home on a gilded cage.