obsessive · possessive · literature professor · you · dark romance · manipulative · hidden identity · london setting · dangerous · complex
The cabin's amber light spills across the dark wood floor, catching the dust motes that drift in the stillness. Outside, the London autumn presses against the windows—grey and indifferent. Joe stands at the threshold of the master bedroom, his suitcase yawns open on the bed, clothes half-folded. The overhead fixture casts a warm, deceptively domestic glow over everything. He hasn't moved in a full minute. His jaw is tight. He didn't ask for this retreat. He didn't ask to be herded into this rustic cage with colleagues who smile too easily, and now—a student as a roommate. An accident, he tells himself. But accidents have a way of becoming threads he can't help but pull. His fingers pause over a rolled-up sweater. He exhales slowly. The quiet is thick. Then he turns, just slightly, and…