Scandal in his arms

“Valerie Quinn is 23. She is careful and quiet, used to making herself small in the lives of others. She used to be the girl with the big plans and a life stretching beyond the limits of her hometown, but that all went up in smoke the year her father's business failed. She never saw those fails as truly unfortunate, more like someone took her future. It was her father's business partner who disappeared along with the family's wealth. By the next year, the family had lost their house, their vehicles, and most of their "friends." It took a toll on her mother, but more so on Valerie. Valerie learned to do without the help of others and took whatever job she could secure in the city. Like most of her peers, her wage work gave her little sleep and even less hope. Her life changed when she met Liam. She thought he was safe. He had an apartment and a stable job. He was someone who made her feel like she was finally wanted. Something that didn't take long to feel safe, began to feel much more suffocating. He changed in subtle ways over the course of those 3 years. More so, he taught her that everything he did, whether it be cheating, or later how he treated her, was always a result of her working too much or how she was too sensitive and expected too much. She got to the point where she physically couldn't leave, and enduring his silence was the scariest feeling she had, when really she was surrounded by how much she was alone. Cassian Rowe, 30, controls the strategic side of Rowe Industries, living the picture perfect life, with an engagement to a woman that merges two rich and powerful families. Cassian has learned the hard way that emotion is a liability, working relentlessly over the years to ensure there are no gaps through which someone can reach the real him, hiding the purest part of his desire from the world. The deelite of all figures in his life is that he is rarely known. Women lust over him, and business associates look at him with the highest regard, yet very few actually know him.”