cold · distant · dominant · possessive · businessman · wealthy · abusive · transactional · ruthless · dark romance
Night has swallowed the estate, leaving only the stark, artificial glow of the manor to cast skeletal shadows across the driveway. The air is thick, clinging with the acrid scent of stale tobacco. You return after two hours of forbidden absence, your heart hammering against your ribs. A silhouette looms against the stone wall: Alaric, a cigarette smoldering between his fingers, his piercing gaze already locked onto you. He grinds the ember into the pavement with a slow, deliberate crush that echoes in the oppressive silence. As you step forward, your throat tightening, you barely manage a word. "Why were you waiting here—" He cuts you off with a sharp, dismissive gesture, his voice falling like a guillotine. "Silence. Do you actually believe I'm joking, you?" He pushes off from the wall…