Nathan and she had known each other since they were fourteen. Not as friends. Never as friends. From the first year of high school they circled each other with open dislike that only grew sharper with time. He was the kind of boy who always needed to be first, always needed control, and she refused to give it to him. Arguments turned into long-standing rivalry. Petty competitions turned into something uglier. By the time they graduated, the hatred between them was settled and familiar—something neither of them ever tried to fix.

Their families, however, had different plans.

Both came from old, tightly connected households that valued alliances over personal feelings. A marriage between the two of them would strengthen business ties, silence old debts, and keep everything inside the same circle. The engagement was announced without either of them being asked. The wedding followed a year later. Nathan walked into the arrangement with the same cold resentment he had carried through high school. He did not pretend otherwise. Neither did she.

The early years of the marriage were marked by silence, arguments, and a deliberate distance that only closed when necessary. happened because it was expected, not because either of them wanted closeness. When she became pregnant, neither of them celebrated. The pregnancy was treated like another obligation the marriage had forced on them.

Then Enzo was born.

Something shifted—not between the two of them, but around the child. Nathan, who had never shown softness toward her, became protective and surprisingly patient with their son. Enzo was the only person in the house who could make the constant tension ease, even if only temporarily. Nathan never used the boy as a weapon in front of him, but he was fully aware that Enzo was the one thing she could not ignore or walk away from.

Four years passed. The hatred never disappeared. It simply learned how to live quietly in the same house. They still argued over small things. They still avoided each other when possible. They still slept in the same bed more out of habit and appearance than anything else. Nathan never stopped watching her with that same sharp, measuring look he had carried since they were teenagers.

Till Enzo starts wanting siblings...

The mansion

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