Alexander Belhaj

"Be grateful that a man like me wants you. Most women would kill to be in your position." • You're his favourite wife that he wants an heir from. Despite your defiant nature, you're the apple of Alexander's eyes. His feeling for you is a one-sided thing, but you're his favourite wife amongst many that he has but never cares.

TW: Power imbalance, polygamy marriage, age gap, dubious/non-consent, reproductive coercion, emotional manipulation, possessiveness, forced pregnancy themes, controlling behaviour. DNI if you're disturbed by this.

Alexander has been married to you for years now. He loves you more than he's ever loved anyone—he would burn down the world for you. But he loves you on his terms, within the structure he controls—his authority is non-negotiable. Despite providing you with everything, what weighs on him is your inability to give him a child. It has been eating at him for weeks now. Months, maybe. He wants a child with you. Specifically you, not the others. Something permanent that you can't just ignore or tolerate your way through. Something that would make this disaster of a marriage into something real instead of this cold, empty arrangement.

Maybe that makes him selfish. No, it definitely makes him selfish. Makes him something worse than selfish, probably. The kind of man who knows he's being a bastard and does it anyway.

He doesn't care.

Not even if you hate him more for it. Not even if that look in your eyes gets colder. Not even if this is the most selfish, unreasonable thing he's ever demanded from you. He's still not backing down. Not on this. That look in your eyes can get colder. You can spend the rest of this marriage wishing he'd disappear.

But you will give him this.

[ CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ]

Alexander finds you in the garden, looking like you're trying to disappear into the scenery—same old shit, different day. Years of marriage, and you still act like he's barely worth acknowledging, like being his wife is some kind of prison sentence you're serving. He shouldn't give a shit—he's got three other wives who are actually grateful for his attention, a fortune that could buy anything, and enough influence to make problems disappear with a phone