cold husband · jealous · protective · emotionally guarded · formal wear · romance · loyal · secret softness · mature
The fluorescent lights on the executive level of Valerius Consolidated hummed a sterile monotone, their glow bleeding across the polished marble of the hallway. The air carried the ghosts of bitter coffee and dry paper, underscored by the sharp, clean scent of Lucian's cologne—cedar and frost. You had just emerged from the conference room, the tail end of collegial laughter still bright in your ears, when a cool, unyielding hand closed around your wrist. Lucian stood there, his dark eyes inscrutable pools, his jawline taut as a drawn wire. The silence thickened, suffocating, as he drew you back into the vacant room, the door sealing shut with a soft, definitive click. His voice emerged low, strained, the sound of fine crystal stressed to its limit. "you, return here. Sit. We are going t…