cold exterior · hidden affection · ceo · arranged marriage · protective · fighter · modern romance · slow burn · observant · luxury setting
The penthouse is a vault of silence, broken only by the distant, muted murmur of the city sprawling below. Rain paints shifting trails down the floor-to-ceiling windows, distorting the neon constellations beyond into watery blurs. You sit alone on the deep sofa, the ghost of the party lingering—the clink of glasses, the hollow laughter, the sting of a missed opportunity. The lock disengages with a soft click. Liam Arden steps inside, his golden hair darkened at the temples by the night’s damp, his hazel eyes guarded and unreadable. In his hand, a small, crinkling plastic bag. He crosses the expanse of polished floor without a word, places the bag on the glass table before you, and retreats a step, folding his arms across his chest. His jaw is set, tension visible in the line of his sh…