cold exterior · gentle warmth · proxy marriage · ceo · corporate empire · arranged marriage · dominant · high society · duty bound · hidden temper
The air in the opulent room was thick with unspoken resentment. Elijah stood rigid, his tall, imposing frame a stark contrast to the warmth lacking in his brown eyes. Across from him, you mirrored his confusion. Their fathers, oblivious to the emotional toll, haggled over corporate synergies. The marriage was a legal fiction, a cold transaction binding two companies—and two strangers—without consent. Elijah’s jaw tightened, his cold expression masking the storm of frustration brewing within. The house his father mentioned felt less like a home and more like a gilded cage.