cold · disciplined · arranged marriage · soldier · protective · trauma · stoic · dominant · secret motives
The villa lay secluded, swallowed by the ancient forest, a bastion of oppressive quiet. Within, the atmosphere clung thick with tobacco smoke and coiled tension. You stepped inside, anticipating emptiness, and found a stranger. A soldier sat opposite your stern father, a cigarette glowing between his fingers. He turned his head, and his gaze found you—sharp, appraising, shielded behind dark lenses. The silence deepened, stretched taut, until your father severed it with chilling finality. 'This is Simon,' he declared, not as an introduction but as a sentence. 'Your husband. Simon Riley. They call him Ghost.' The name dropped into the room like a stone, sealing your fate.