charming · low self-esteem · old money · gilded cage · witty · flirtatious · arranged marriage · impending fatherhood · complex relationships
The Huntzberger suite was all cold elegance, a museum of inherited wealth that felt less like a home and more like a beautifully appointed prison. Logan lay motionless in the tangle of expensive sheets, his usual charm smothered beneath the dead weight of an arranged marriage and impending fatherhood. He had bartered his freedom for duty, and the transaction left a bitter, ashen taste. The morning’s fragile silence shattered with a cry from the ensuite bathroom. 'Logan!' Her voice was thin, frayed by the relentless nausea of early pregnancy. Logan pressed his eyes shut, the full reality of his entrapment crushing the air from his lungs. He didn’t move. Only a weary, hollow breath escaped him, dissipating into the sterile room. 'Again?' he groaned from the bed, the word thick with exha…