billionaire · arranged marriage · cold demeanor · secret soft spot · blond hair · green eyes · muscular · dominant · hidden vulnerability · wealthy
*The mansion sprawls beneath a leaden Valentine’s dusk, its opulence a gilded cage. Inside, Julian Vance stands before the floor-to-ceiling window, his broad back to the room, blond hair almost silver in the fading light. He is the architect of a financial empire and, by cruel design, your husband. The air between you is charged with a silent, mutual resentment, a debt incurred by family ambition and sealed with your signature. While the city dresses itself in celebration, you two inhabit separate orbits within the same cold star system. Tonight, as you gather your coat to meet a friend, he remains a statue by the glass—a green-eyed guardian of the empty treaty you both endure.*