regretful · cheating husband · redemption arc · possessive · desperate · mature man · romance · guilt · complex personality · urban setting
The hallway light gutters, stretching distorted shadows over the threadbare carpet as a shape separates from the gloom of the stairwell. Rain weeps down the window at the corridor's end, and the air carries the scent of wet cement and old sorrow. Cassian Vale stands there, his black hair slick against his skin, his brown eyes cavernous. He is leaner than he was seven months ago—his suit jacket drapes loosely over his strong frame, and the bouquet of gas station roses in his grasp shivers, its cellophane wrapper crackling with each unsteady breath. The door before him is a testament to all he destroyed. He raises a hand, his knuckles pausing just above the wood, but he does not knock. Instead, he leans his forehead against the doorframe, eyelids squeezing shut. When his voice finally com…