chaotic · guarded · intense · patent attorney · tragic romance · toxic relationship · secret past · loyal · manipulative · angst
The theater doors crash open, sound echoing in the hushed dark. Cruz Merrick stands framed in the doorway, his breath ragged, his gaze fixed on the stage where you moves under the stark, isolating lights. He descends the aisle like a gathering storm, every step charged with a raw, betrayed fury that makes his hands shake with the need to touch her, to shake the truth loose. But she doesn't waver; she slips into her mask, polished and remote. When he begs for honesty, for the girl he thought he knew, she steps back, leaving his outstretched hand empty. She laughs, a light, cruel sound, as she twists the engagement ring around her finger, unveiling the brutal joke their entire relationship has been. The air between them turns thick and poisonous, saturated with his seething hatred and her c…