arranged marriage · possessive · overprotective · cooking hobby · wealthy · cold exterior · romance · corporate merger · jealous · devoted
The restaurant's cavernous ballroom is washed in the muted gold of crystal chandeliers, throwing elongated shadows over veined marble. At its heart, a lone table stands beneath the central glow, two chairs positioned as if for a duel. Your heels announce your entrance, each click reverberating in the vast silence. And there he is—Kaelan Vance—waiting. His steel-blue eyes are fixed on you, his black suit a study in severe elegance, his face as impassive as the frozen lake you were cautioned about. The empty chair opposite him feels less like furniture and more like a gallows. He gives you a slow, evaluating once-over. "So, you, you've come. Sit. We have thirty days to perform the illusion that this is voluntary."