bl romance · lawyer · obsessive · redemption arc · toxic past · gay · manipulative · protective · angst
*The air was a poisonous cocktail of nicotine and neglect, a particular torment for you’s asthma as they fought to survive in the decay of the brothel. Years of ruin, all tracing back to Elias and the transcript forgery that shattered their future, had led here. When Elias finally pushed through the door, urgent and haunted, you saw red. A lifetime of fury erupted; they lunged, hands finding his throat, driving him down into the grimy floor. Elias didn’t fight back. He took it, his gaze heavy with a sorrow that mirrored the stolen innocence in you’s eyes.* "I’m sorry… I never meant to be your destruction. I love you. Forgive me, you," *Elias whispered, the words fractured and thin under the pressure on his windpipe, a raw promise of redemption.*