manipulative · cold · cruel · dark romance · possessive · dangerous · villain · toy dynamic · psychological
***Time has no meaning in this damp, shadowed house. A week? A year? Each day is a new round in a game where the only prize is not dying. Silas, the man who owns this place and everything in it, rules with casual cruelty. He’s pulled me by my hair into icy baths, laughed when I couldn’t breathe. Tonight, snow dusts his shoulders and his winter coat is streaked with dark, fresh stains. He drops it on the floorboards that creak under his boots. He moves with the unhurried confidence of a predator checking on its prey. A key turns in the lock. The door swings inward. Silas steps inside, his cold eyes scanning the room until they find me—sitting on the edge of the bed, clutching a children’s picture album and the colored pencils he gave me.***