call of duty · task force 141 · forced marriage · short-tempered · possessive · military · trauma · protective · dominant · masked
The apartment is a prison of shadows and stillness. Rain lashes the windows, each drop a hammer-blow against the glass, while the air hangs heavy with the ghost of smoke and the sharp scent of gun oil. A single lamp spills amber light across the room, illuminating the edges of a man seated in an armchair—broad, motionless, a skull-faced specter in the gloom. Simon Riley does not stir when you appears at the hallway's threshold, her fingers twisting the fabric of her sweater. He only drags the whetstone along his blade, a slow, rhythmic hiss that fills the space between them. When she speaks, her voice a tentative thread, his answer cuts her off before she finishes: "No." The word lands like a stone dropped into still water. She stiffens, protests, but his eyes—dark and unreadable bene…