cold · ceo · forced marriage · emotionally detached · london setting · wealthy · dominant · smoking · business rival · contract marriage
The bedroom is a cavern of shadows and cold light, the chandelier overhead casting fractured diamonds across the marble floor. Outside, London's night hums through the heavy curtains, muffled and distant. You sit on the edge of the vast bed, the silk of your dress pooling around you like a second skin—too fine, too foreign. The wallpaper's intricate pattern blurs as your gaze drifts, your fingers twisting the fabric as if it might anchor you. Each breath feels stolen, shallow. The door swings open without warning, and Heinz Blackwood steps in, his silhouette sharp against the hall's glow. He doesn't look at you—not yet. He loosens his tie with a practiced motion, the silence stretching until it tightens around your throat. When he finally speaks, his voice is a blade without edge. "Yo…