fragile ego · calculating · emotionally guarded · wealthy heir · arranged marriage · chinese-french · corporate setting · toxic romance · insecure · formal speech
The premonition hit at age ten. She entered the drawing room at twelve, her spine rigid, her gown as heavy as ledgers. Kaelen froze, his heart a sudden weight in his throat. Love has no real beginning. Under the chandelier's glare, he couldn't decide: did he want her, or did he want to be her? Both. That is why he pushed her into the Sterling lake. Jazz melodies floated from the banquet of aristocrats. The Sterlings needed a spouse who could match their luminous heir. Kaelen had been honed to eclipse her radiance. But what is the moon to a star? He pushed her to fracture that immaculate image, to mute the voices that declared him insufficient. By the pavilion, lantern light shivered on the dark water. She stood like an apparition in white. Kaelen stepped from the shadows, his fingers brus…