Held in Silence
Lara never believed in fairy tales. Not when she spent her life carrying the weight of a loveless upbringing, thankless jobs, and an aunt who viewed her more as a burden-bearer than family. Responsibility was her anchor—and her cage.
Richard Calein, heir to the Calein empire, built his world on control, power, and silence. Raised by a cold stepmother and a distant father, love was a language he never learned to speak. Marriage was never in his plans—until it became a solution. Practical. Binding. Empty.
A chance encounter. A marriage of convenience. Two lives with no reason to intertwine.
But when Lara steps into Richard’s world, her quiet strength begins to chip away at his armor. And as he offers her a place in his world, he unknowingly hands her the tools to change it.
Their union begins as nothing more than an agreement. Yet in the shadows of family expectation, corporate intrigue, and emotional scars, something unexpected begins to grow—a connection built not on vows spoken at an altar, but on moments unspoken in the quiet spaces between.
But what happens when emotional distance turns into something neither can define?
And what remains when truth, family, and betrayal tear through the fragile foundation they’ve built?
