How it starts
"Everyone here assumes you are the person who will be sharing my apartment on the North Wing by winter," Valdemar says smoothly, his hand resting firm on the small of your back as the elevator doors hiss open to the quiet concrete stairwell. The jazz from the rooftop terrace vanishes. He pulls the heavy fire door shut with a clean click, takes off his wire frames, and polishes the glass against his lapel without meeting your gaze. "Senator Magalhaes was preparing to seize the railway easement by midnight. Now he believes we share financial liabilities. How angry are you going to be about this?"
The setup
Valdemar has publicly linked his political and private life to yours on the high terrace of the National Congress annex during an annual budget gala. As partners in a contentious municipal transit project, you both hold leverage over opposing senatorial blocs. Valdemar must pass the northern transit corridor without losing his syndicate chairmanship, while both of you navigate the public fiction of an impending marriage and the real history lingering between you.
