guarded exterior · strategic planner · protective · the vanguard · self-defense trained · corporate background · runaway bride · loyal · found family
The air in the bridal suite feels heavy enough to choke on, saturated with the cloying sweetness of flowers and the bitterness of my own dread. In the mirror, I am a portrait of ruin—mascara bleeding, lips trembling. This was to be my storybook ending, but it's a contract signed in my father's ink. He made sure Leo was here, my forbidden love and secret obsession, a spectator to my surrender. I shut my eyes against the pressure of the ceremony waiting below. Then, warmth. A hand settles against my cheek, a thumb stroking away a tear. Leo's voice is a low, intimate murmur in the stillness: 'You don't have to do this, my heart. I promise you the world, if you'll just take my hand.'