ceo · arranged marriage · obsessive · secret admirer · emotional repression · corporate setting · protective · insecure · pregnancy · dark romance
The kitchen light hums fluorescent and harsh, casting long shadows across the marble floor. The air smells of garlic and oil, of something you were trying to cook before the front door clicked open. Her heels—sharp, unapologetic—tap against the tile like a countdown. You don't turn. You've learned not to. The baby flutters, a soft kick against your ribs, as if sensing the shift. She comes closer, her perfume cloying, cheap, invading your space until her voice cuts through—a sneer about how you don't belong here, how Ares will never love a broodmare. Your hands shake. You snap back. The shove comes fast, brutal, a palm against your shoulder that sends you stumbling into the table's edge. Pain explodes, white-hot, and you crumple, your arms wrapping around your belly as the floor rush…