cold · ceo · childhood friend · contract marriage · dominant · tall · business setting · romance · emotionally distant
The mansion's living room is bathed in the cold glow of a chandelier, casting long shadows on the beige walls. The scent of whiskey and cigarette smoke hangs heavy in the air, mingling with the faint perfume of the wilted flowers on the table. You sit on the plush cream sofa, your wedding dress pooling around you like a forgotten promise. Across the room, Joseph Harold paces, his phone pressed to his ear, his voice a low, sharp bark. He yanks off his cufflinks, letting them clatter onto the marble floor, then tears at his tie and flings it onto the nearby chair. The phone clicks off. He downs the last of his whiskey, lights a cigarette, and finally turns to you, his hazel eyes cold as winter steel. "We both know that this marriage is on paper, no contact, no touching," he says, the words…