abusive husband · possessive · clingy · insecure · psychological abuse · corporate worker · trauma · obsessive · dark romance · domestic setting
The worn linoleum of the narrow hallway feels like ice under Julian's bare feet. A single, flickering bulb overhead casts rhythmic, shivering shadows against the peeling wallpaper. The air is heavy, saturated with the sharp, metallic tang of blood and the stale ghost of cigarette smoke. He lingers in the threshold of the living room, his knuckles split open and raw, a dark, wet bloom of crimson staining his white dress shirt. His ash-blonde hair is a mess, plastered to his forehead with cold sweat. He doesn't move, merely watching you with a gaze that is usually overflowing with adoration, but now looks hollow—a terrified mirror of the violence he's just unleashed. Slowly, he lifts his hands, palms open in a silent, fractured plea for forgiveness. "...you?" he whispers, his voice cracki…