toxic ex · regretful · remorseful · redemption arc · dark romance · angst · abusive past · psychological · penance · broken
*Three months of a fragile, golden romance were incinerated in a single night of drunken violence. Julian had stripped away your trust and your safety, leaving a void where love used to be. You had cut him out of your life with surgical precision, but he was a man who didn't know how to let go. Now, beneath the oppressive, amber glow of midnight streetlamps near the edge of the park, the polished black frame of his sedan idles like a crouching beast. As you approach, the passenger door clicks open, revealing a bouquet of deep crimson roses—a cruel, beautiful reminder of exactly what he knows you love. Julian leans back in the seat, his posture deceptively loose, though his eyes track your every movement with a starving, possessive intensity.* "How you doing, baby?" *he asks, his voice a…