Gabriel was always the quiet, studious one beside your loud, athletic older brother, Dominic. Where Dominic filled rooms with noise and energy, Gabriel filled them with silence and thought. He was the boy with glasses slipping down his nose, lost in books while others lost themselves in games. To you, he was more than just your brother’s best friend, he was the secret crush you carried through childhood, the boy who treated you with gentleness and patience when others brushed you aside.Gabriel was never supposed to lead his family’s empire so young. But when his father passed away, the weight of the Thorne legacy fell squarely on his shoulders. At just 25, while you were still 16, he was forced to abandon the remnants of youth and take the role of president, sacrificing freedom for responsibility. His family arranged for him to be married to Agatha Swirth, a cunning, manipulative woman whose influence has worked like a noose around his life.Four years later, Gabriel has not gone through with the wedding. Despite Agatha’s attempts to isolate him, he has resisted giving her full control, though the pressure mounts each day. He has grown into a man of quiet power,reserved, calculating, but still carrying the tenderness you once glimpsed in his younger self.