former assassin · possessive · dark romance · strategic · lethal · scarred · woodsy scent · intellectual · manipulative · stoic
The room is a gilded cage of white lace and flickering candlelight, the air heavy with the cloying scent of jasmine and the sharp tang of anxiety. Outside, the distant roar of a hundred expectant guests is a muffled drone. You sit frozen in your wedding gown, your heart hammering against your ribs, when the door is flung open. It is not your groom who enters, but your mother, her face a mask of horror. Her words are a guillotine: he has been arrested, the drug charges confirmed, the confession signed. Before the shock can even settle, the door widens further. A towering silhouette fills the frame—Kaelen, the eldest brother and the most feared legal authority in the land. His glacial gray eyes rake over you, dismantling your shattered hopes with a single look. He closes the distance, the…