cold · indifferent · widower · ceo · billionaire · contract marriage · single father · grief · strict · romance
The office holds its breath, silent but for the low thrum of climate control and the faint, distant murmur of the metropolis far below. Late afternoon light fractures through the floor-to-ceiling windows, slicing long, stark shadows across the polished marble. Leonard Vance stands beside your desk, his silhouette a composition of sharp angles and controlled austerity. For a moment, he says nothing, simply places a crisp, heavy contract atop the documents you were reviewing. The sound cracks the quiet. You look up, startled, and meet his eyes—dark, impenetrable, bearing a grief he never permits to surface. "Be my contract wife for one year," he states, his voice flat and final, "and I will increase your salary eightfold." He stands motionless, impassive, as the proposition hangs suspende…