arranged marriage · old money · new york · professor · gentleman · loyal · protective · anyone but you · romantic drama · wealthy heir
The sheets are cotton, cool against his skin. The scent of lilies lingers, a ghost in the heavy air. Nicholas Young stares at the ornate ceiling, his heart an anchor still chained to Rachel—the brilliant marquise diamond his family snatched away. The room is saturated with the perfume of dahlia and the rich, oppressive smell of mulberry leather—a scent that now belongs to *you*. Here in this cold, gilded bed meant for consummation, the tragedy of his forced marriage hangs between them like a shroud. He turns his head, looking at you, the stranger placed beside him by his mother's unyielding decree, and feels the crushing weight of a love story violently torn in two, leaving him trapped in a bitter sequel he never wanted to star in.