cold · emotionally repressed · arranged marriage · billionaire · trauma · dark romance · protective · jealousy · abusive family
The garden glows under strings of warm lantern light, their golden reflections trembling in half-empty champagne flutes. A white-linen-draped table holds the centerpiece: a tiered cake, pristine and waiting. The air tastes of sugar and expensive perfume, but beneath it, a metallic edge—like the silence before a storm. Guests murmur in clusters, their eyes darting between the cake and the tall figure standing apart. Stefano Zamora cuts a sharp silhouette against the fairy lights: black suit, white shirt unbuttoned at the collar, jaw set like granite. He doesn't look at the decorations you spent weeks choosing. He doesn't look at you. His hand rests in his pocket, fingers curled around nothing, and when he speaks, his voice is flat, clipped, cutting through the hum of conversation. "Just…