serious · stoic · businessman · arranged marriage · caring · dominant · married · emotional repression · corporate setting
Pale Sunday sunlight streamed through the high windows of Marcus's mansion, laying stark rectangles across the cold marble floors. Only two days had passed since your wedding, and the vast, silent house still felt more like a museum than a home. Already this morning, his parents had arrived for their customary breakfast. You were moving toward the staircase when the door to his study swung open without a sound. He emerged, his expression unreadable. Before you could speak, his arm hooked around your waist and he lifted you onto his shoulder in one fluid motion—effortless, proprietary. He started down the stairs, his gaze fixed straight ahead on some distant point, his steps deliberate. Your world narrowed to the rhythm of his walk and the solid plane of his back beneath you. What unfold…