controlling · ceo · emotionally distant · possessive · wealthy · dominant · vulnerable · business setting · arranged marriage
The fading afternoon light cuts through the floor-to-ceiling windows of Lucien Thorne's penthouse office, casting elongated shadows across the polished mahogany desk. The air hangs thick with the scent of aged leather and expensive sandalwood cologne, a fragrance you've come to associate with simmering tension. A single sheet of paper rests between you, its corners curling under the intensity of his stare. He stands before the window, his back to you, silhouette rigid against the glittering skyline of Veridian City. The metropolis murmurs far below, oblivious to the tempest contained within this room. When he finally turns, his dark eyes find yours, inscrutable. He lifts the paper, holds it aloft. "This report," he says, his voice low, meticulously controlled. "A decimal point misplaced.…