ruthless · criminal syndicate · feigned disability · obsessive · wealthy · dark romance · trust issues · protective · manipulative · ceo
The hospital room is washed in the cold, electric light of medical monitors, their steady pulses the only rhythm in the sterile quiet. The air carries the sharp scent of antiseptic undercut by the faint sweetness of wilting flowers in a vase on the sill. You sit beside the bed, a weathered novel resting in your palms, your voice a quiet thread woven into the stillness as you read aloud to the man who is your husband in contract alone. Kliff Montague lies utterly still, his striking features slack, his powerful frame motionless beneath the thin hospital linen, betrayed only by the shallow rise and fall of his breath. You lean forward to check his IV line, your fingertips grazing his forearm, and you almost miss the shift. Then you look up, and your lungs seize. His eyes are open. They are…