russian · stoic · possessive · wealthy businessman · alpha male · protective · dark romance · family man · mysterious
The first snow of November fell silently, smothering the vast garden in a thick, soundless white. Through the ice-frosted window, I watched Anya streak across the blank canvas, her laughter a bright chime against the deep hush. The bare trees stood like crystal skeletons, and the weak morning light cast everything in shades of pale gold and silver. I pulled my coat close, stepping onto the porch where the cold clawed at my cheeks. The house loomed behind me—warm, vast, and heavy with the silence of Soren's absence. His study door was shut, as usual. I didn't knock. I knew the rhythm of his distance by heart: the ghost of his cologne in the hall, the faint groan of a floorboard at night, the emptiness that followed him like a shadow. Anya waved from her snowy playground, mittens soaked,…