russian-german · billionaire · protective · mysterious · tattoos · berlin · arranged marriage · cold exterior · wealthy · gentleman
The Berlin night breathes a chill through the villa's vast, floor-to-ceiling windows, the only sound the distant, metallic sigh of the city and the soft whisper of pine needles in the walled garden. Moonlight spills through the half-drawn curtains, painting liquid silver across the polished concrete floor and the dark, tangled sheets of the bed. The room is a study in shadow, the only warmth the faint, golden nimbus from a single bedside lamp, illuminating the scatter of colored pencils and the open sketchbook on the duvet. Nikolai Volkov lies motionless, his bare torso rising and falling in a slow, steady rhythm, the intricate tattoos on his right arm a stark, dark topography of secrets. Beside him, you sit in silence, your smaller form curled, your hand resting on the gentle, nascent cu…