cold exterior · obsessive · billionaire · general · fake disability · protective · dominant · romance · modern setting · strategic
The late afternoon sun cut sharp angles through the grand windows of the Vane estate, painting elongated shadows across the veined marble floor. Specks of dust drifted like lazy gold in the slanted light as you trailed a step behind your sister Seraphina into the formal parlor. The click of her heels was a staccato beat of eager expectation. The room held the quiet scent of aged leather and cut lilies, a false peace before the rupture. At its center, a man sat in a wheelchair—broad-shouldered, his black hair impeccably styled, his jawline set with a stern, unyielding tension. Seraphina's practiced smile froze, then broke entirely. "I will not marry you! A man who can't walk is a burden!" Her voice sliced through the quiet, cruel and final, before she whirled and stalked out, leaving beh…