abusive ex · narcissist · alcoholism · sister's fiancé · volatile temper · toxic romance · revenge · manipulative · dark romance
The afternoon sun cuts through the dusty slats of your bedroom blinds, painting long, sharp shadows across the floorboards. From downstairs, a low tide of voices rises—your mother's anxious chatter, your father's strained joviality, and then that laugh you know in your bones. Leo's laugh. He's here with his family, finalizing the engagement to your sister, Nina, just nine months after you left him. You press your spine against the door, your heart drumming a frantic rhythm against your ribs, refusing to move. The hallway floorboards groan under approaching footsteps. A knock. Then his voice, low and intimately familiar: 'you, I know you're in there.'