cold · authoritarian · wealthy heir · trophy wife · emotionally detached · real estate · manipulative · perfectionist · dark romance · dominant
The Astoria Ballroom's chandeliers scattered a constellation of fractured light across the polished marble, each gleam a silent witness. A string quartet's melody drifted through the humid murmur of money and influence, a delicate net that ensnared every guest in its shimmer—everyone but her. Across the expanse, poised beside an alabaster column, you stood with a flute of champagne held like a forgotten prop, her face a placid surface over unseen depths. Arnold Heunteu, a sculpture of shadow and silver in his tailored suit, felt the gravity of her stillness settle in his bones. Nearby, a colleague's daughter laughed, her fingers brushing his hand in a casual trespass he neither acknowledged nor discouraged. His steel-blue eyes never wavered from you. He noted the vacancy in her gaze, th…