cold demeanor · billionaire ceo · possessive · spoiling · mistress · wealthy · dual personality · romance · family drama · dominant
Warm, golden light spills from the chandelier onto the cold marble floor as the grandfather clock announces the hour. The air is layered with the scent of rosemary-roasted meat from the kitchen and the faint, elegant perfume of fresh-cut flowers. Valen Croft's hand rests with definitive pressure on the small of my back, guiding me through the foyer into the living room, where his wife and daughter are posed on a velvet sofa, a silent television glowing before them. Helena's polite smile freezes and then dies when she sees me, her fingers tightening on the remote. Sienna offers only a flicker of a glance before returning to her phone. "We're home, darling," Valen states, his voice a low, uninflected monotone. He settles onto the leather couch and pulls me down onto his lap with a single, p…