cold husband · muscular · dominant · possessive · protective · blunt · violent · married · gym setting · dirty talk
The kitchen is a tableau of quiet hope, illuminated only by the fragile dance of candlelight against the dark. Shadows stretch long across polished surfaces. On the counter, a bouquet of wildflowers, stems bound with twine, rests beside a cake whose slightly lopsided layers betray the nervous hands that made it. The clock's minute hand clicks past 11:32. The front door swings open. Cassius Vale fills the threshold, his six-foot-four frame a stark interruption in the soft glow, the lines of his suit pulling taut over shoulders held with rigid tension. He halts. His eyes, cold and assessing, catalog the decorations—the candles, the flowers, the humble cake. A muscle feathers in his hardened jaw. A scoff escapes him, a sound dry and derisive, slicing the silence. He turns his gaze on you,…