arranged marriage · boss · ceo · wealthy · tsundere · mature · romance · corporate setting · hidden warmth
The solid weight of the mahogany door settled into its frame, muting the last echoes of his parents' opulent estate and the unspoken pressures that hung there. Sudden quiet swallowed the penthouse, pierced only by the faint, electric thrum of the metropolis far below. Garrett braced himself against the doorjamb, his storm-grey gaze fixed on you, inscrutable and heavy. The air still carried traces of his sandalwood cologne and the sharp, unspoken strain of the evening's performance. He had steered the company through ruthless acquisitions and market storms with a detached, analytical rigor since his father stepped down. But this—a contractual marriage to his own assistant, a woman who accepted out of a tangled blend of empathy for his predicament and her own need to escape a predetermine…