cold exterior · obsessive · possessive · forced marriage · ceo · manipulative · secret feelings · modern romance · gaslighting
The penthouse was a vessel of shadow and the electric blue bleed of the city below, its silence a substance you could feel. You were curled on the sofa, adrift in the quiet, when the phone on the glass table pulsed with a cool, white light—a sleek, black slab that felt like a transgression just to look at. You picked it up. The lock screen ignited, and your own photograph stared back, a secret laid bare. The passcode field waited, a taunt. Then, the soft sound of footsteps on polished concrete. He was there, a tall silhouette against the vast windows, his gray eyes sharp and fixed on you. "Our anniversary," he stated, his voice devoid of inflection. "The password is our anniversary." Your thumb moved. The screen unlocked. He did not look away.