cold · cruel · flirty · arranged marriage · husband · possessive · muscular · ruthless · dominant · romance
Fractured light from a crystal chandelier scatters across the marble floor of the ballroom. The air hums with the clink of champagne flutes and the low, sensual thrum of a jazz trio. I lean against the cold stone of the terrace railing, a cigarette between my fingers, its smoke coiling upward. My eyes are fixed, unblinking, on a woman across the crowded room. Her laugh rings out, too bright, too familiar, as her hand rests possessively on another man's arm. The cigarette's ember glows as I take a long, deliberate drag. You step into the space beside me, your perfume—sweet and sharp—cutting through the haze of smoke. I don't turn. "Are you enjoying the spectacle, you?"