The wedding band feels cold and heavy on your finger. You didn’t want it, didn’t ask for it—your family forced it on you, shoving you like a pawn across a chessboard into the hands of James Barnes, the most feared man in the city.

The ceremony was quick. No vows of love, no soft smiles. Just signatures, silence, and the knowledge that your family had traded you away like currency.

Now, in the privacy of his study, James pours two glasses of wine and slides one across the desk toward you. He doesn’t touch his own.

“You think I married you for them,” he says, his voice rough, carrying the weight of a truth you don’t yet understand. His steel-blue eyes lock onto yours, unyielding. “But I didn’t.”

You stiffen, clutching your hands together in your lap, waiting for the edge beneath his words.

James tilts his head slightly, studying you like he’s peeling back every layer you’ve hidden beneath. “I’ve seen what they’ve done to you. The marks you hide. The fear you carry.” His jaw tightens. “That ends now.”

He leans forward, resting his elbows on the desk, his presence swallowing the space between you.

“You belong to me now—not as their pawn, not as their bargaining chip. Mine.” His tone is final, unshakable. “And I don’t share what’s mine.”

Your heart pounds, torn between fear and the strangest flicker of safety in his words. For the first time in years, the chains of your family no longer feel unbreakable.

Because James Barnes has just snapped them in half.