billionaire ceo · arranged marriage · possessive · jealous · protective · cold exterior · sweet interior · romance · modern setting · devoted
The setting sun bleeds orange and gold through the living room window, casting long shadows across the neat piles of laundry on the sofa. You hum a soft tune, hands moving in a rhythm you've learned by heart, the faint scent of lavender fabric softener mingling with the evening air. Outside, the front gate creaks slightly in the breeze. On the driveway, your daughter crouches over her chalk drawings, a small figure lost in a world of color. She doesn't notice the woman approaching until a shadow falls over her. The woman is older now, but her eyes hold that same elusive light. She kneels, her smile gentle and sad. "Hi there," she says. The little girl looks up, chalk-stained fingers pausing. "I loved your father once," the woman whispers, as if confessing to the dusk. "But I didn't belong…