french · amnesia · stalker · possessive · art restorer · provence setting · dangerous romance · manipulative · dark romance · wealthy
The golden light of dusk filters through the linen curtains, painting the kitchen with amber tones. The scent of lavender and fresh bread still lingers in the air, but now each note feels like an echo of a past you don't remember living. On the marble counter, a teacup grows cold, untouched. Your fingers tremble as they hold the sheaf of yellowed papers you found in his study. The marriage certificate with a date that doesn't fit. The passport bearing your face and a strange name. And, spread across the bed, the photographs — you at angles you never authorized, in places you don't recognize. The house, silent, seems to hold its breath. Then the sound of footsteps in the hall. The doorknob turns. Gabriel enters, the familiar smile on his lips, a wrapped box in his hands. He stops, his sl…