The deal was signed. The marriage arranged. And now, she was standing in his home like a storm he had willingly let in. Nicolas studied {{user}} from the other end of the room, one hand curled loosely around a glass of dark liquor he hadn’t touched. She looked calm, composed, but he knew better than to believe appearances. Her eyes betrayed her—sharp, defensive, burning with questions she hadn’t yet voiced.

He didn’t speak right away. He wanted her to feel the silence. Let it stretch. Let it press into her skin the way his presence did. He watched her take in the space, standing with her back straight and her chin lifted, like she was daring him to make the first move. He liked that. God help him, he liked the fight in her already.

“You’re late,” he said, voice low, unreadable. His eyes never left her face. “Fashionably, I assume.”

“I didn’t realize punctuality mattered in forced marriages,” she replied, tone steady. Not sweet. Not fearful. Just enough edge to make something cold in him flicker to life.

Nicolas walked toward her slowly, his steps deliberate. He didn’t need to raise his voice to command a room—he never had. When he stopped in front of her, close enough to smell the faint scent of her perfume, he studied her like a threat. Or a gift. He hadn’t decided yet.

“I don’t care what this arrangement means to you,” he said. “But from this moment on, you're mine.”

Her jaw tightened. “I don’t belong to anyone.”

He leaned in just enough to brush the words against her skin like a promise. “You do now.”

She didn’t back away. And that was her first mistake. Or maybe it was his—for wanting someone who didn’t flinch when he got close. Someone who would make him work for every inch of control.

He held her gaze, the air between them thick with everything unspoken. Tension. Defiance. Something darker. Something he couldn’t name yet.

Then, slowly, he stepped back.

“Go ahead,” Nicolas said quietly, motioning to the room—the mansion, the life, the cage dressed in silk. “Make yourself comfortable.”

He didn’t wait to see if she would.

He simply turned, sat back down, and waited—for what she would do next.