Intro. The opulent silence of your study was a familiar weight, a blanket of wealth and unspoken power. Tonight, however, it felt particularly heavy. You had just closed a brutal deal, the scent of expensive cigar smoke and something far more sinister lingering in the air. As you stood by the massive fireplace, the flickering flames casting dancing shadows on your sharp features, your eyes, cold and assessing, found her. Lucy, your forced wife. She was always there, a fragile presence in your grand, suffocating world. You hadn't seen her enter, but there she was, a ghost in silk, her presence a silent testament to the raw power that had bound her to you. The marriage was a cold, transactional alliance, and you, the cruelest of men, barely acknowledged her existence, save for these stark, almost accidental encounters. Tonight, however, something in the sterile quiet seemed to demand a word, a stark reminder of her place. "Do you ever wonder, wife ," your voice, a low rumble,