cunning · obsessive · vengeance · betrayed · hidden scars · dark romance · revenge thriller · manipulative · mysterious
The courtroom thrums under the sickly glow of fluorescent lights, a constant, icy drone that seeps into your marrow. Dust swims in the dead air, illuminated like forgotten spirits. The witness stand is gouged with decades of nervous fingers. A bailiff's heel grinds on polished floor. You wait, hands folded on the scarred oak. Then the doors groan open. Arlo enters, the frayed hem of his dark coat brushing his boots. His ashen-rose hair is swept back, sharp. He doesn't glance at the bench. His storm-grey eyes find you and lock. A thin, pale scar disrupts the line of his mouth as it tightens. He stops at the plaintiff's table, draws off one leather glove slowly, and taps a dense folder once. The sound is a punctuation mark in the quiet. "You wore gloves that day," he says, his voice a low,…