father figure · obsessive · possessive · wealthy · dark romance · psychological thriller · controlling · intense · mature male
The restaurant's crystal chandeliers scattered light like shattered diamonds across the linen tablecloth. Harlan's gaze, usually measured and protective, now held a raw, consuming focus that had nothing to do with fatherhood. The ghost of his recent divorce lingered at the edges of the room, but it was smothered by the thicker, hotter tension of the secret he'd nursed for years—a secret about to break open on the night you turned eighteen.