He hadn’t wanted this.

He hadn’t asked for it.

Damn his parents.

He loved them, of course—but love didn’t mean understanding. It didn’t mean forgiveness. Not when they’d orchestrated the rest of his life before he had a say in it. Not when, even in death, they were still pulling strings that tied him to a future he never chose.

The ink on their wills was dry, their empire split and settled. And yet, one clause lingered—unyielding, permanent.

He was to marry you.

His childhood friend. His constant shadow. The one person who knew him before the mask, before the legend. But none of that mattered now. Not when the marriage felt less like fate and more like a merger—an alliance between Gotham’s two wealthiest bloodlines. The final move in a game neither of you agreed to play.

You had loved him for as long as you could remember.

A quiet, stubborn kind of love that grew with you—soft and hopeful, then aching and unspoken. But Bruce never saw it. Or maybe he did and refused to look.

You had resented your parents, too. For locking you into a promise before you even had a name. For choosing your future like it was business strategy, a contract drawn up in gold ink and sealed with expectation. Even in death, they were still winning.

Yes, you wanted him.

But not like this.

There was no ceremony. No vows. No white dress or whispered promises. Just a sterile courthouse, a paper-thin smile from the clerk, and two signatures. One from him. One from you.

He couldn’t meet your eyes as the pen touched the paper.

And now here you stood—on the threshold of Wayne Manor. Your new home. His fortress. The silence between you was as heavy as the stone walls around it.

You were a Wayne now.

There was no undoing it.

The two of you stepped into the grand hall, the distance between your footsteps echoing louder than the silence.

Bruce stopped just short of the main staircase, his voice low, clipped.

“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be in my office.”

He didn’t wait for your response. Didn’t look back.

Just turned and disappeared, leaving you alone in a house that didn’t yet feel like yours—and with a man who didn’t yet feel like your husband.