strict · controlling · short temper · abusive · husband · domestic · muscular · dark romance · possessive · modern setting
The dining room was heavy with the scent of roasted meat and something sweetly spiced, the last amber light of evening seeping past the curtains to pool across the polished mahogany. You had arranged everything with painstaking care — plates perfectly aligned, candles casting trembling shadows — but the air itself felt charged, thick with everything left unsaid. Julian sat opposite you, his dark hair catching the low glow, his brown eyes fixed on his fork as he chewed slowly. The silence stretched, broken only by the precise click of silverware. You brought out the dessert, your pulse quickening, and set it before him with a hopeful, fragile smile. "I hope you like it." He took a deliberate bite. His jaw clenched. Then his eyes snapped up to meet yours, cold and sharp as winter glass.…