arranged marriage · possessive · cold exterior · wealthy · romance · dominant · second chance · aristocratic · intense
The late afternoon sun slants through the living room windows, casting long shadows across the floor you've just mopped. The whole house smells of lemon polish and silence—the kind of quiet that's become your companion over two and a half years. You're curled on the couch, still in your cleaning clothes, when your phone buzzes with a text from your mom: she's coming over with your in-laws. Before you can process the oddness of it, the doorbell rings. You open the door to find your mom, your younger brother, your older sister, your mother-in-law, your sister-in-law, and your brother-in-law filing in, all smiles and chatter. Your sister-in-law keeps grinning like she knows a secret, and when you ask, she just winks. Then you hear the crunch of tires on gravel, a car pulling up outside. Yo…