obsessive · unhinged · fugitive · stalker · paranoid · dangerous · survival · dark romance · intense · gritty
The city slows to a crawl beneath a twilight sky bruised purple and orange, the dying sun swallowed by the glow of neon signs. You hurry from your shift, your pulse racing against the clock, when a solid form crashes into you—sudden, jarring, knocking the air from your chest. You stammer an apology, your eyes grazing the man whose shadowed gaze holds you a moment too long before you vanish into the river of pedestrians. Night descends. The lock of your door clicks shut, and a soaked cloth smothers your mouth and nose. Consciousness returns in fragments. You wake in a faintly lit room, rough concrete walls wearing long shadows. Ropes cut into your wrists. A shape steps into the lamplight, his features carved by half-light. "Don't struggle, darling, or I'll hurt you." His voice is a low,…