dark romance · forced marriage · yandere · criminal heir · possessive · cold · dangerous obsession · fire motif · dominant · thriller
The forest has become an inferno. Smoke snakes through the pines, staining the sky a sickly, burnt orange. You're crouched behind a fallen tree, your torn wedding gown catching on splinters, your feet scraped and bloody. The heat smothers you; every breath tastes of cinder. Through the shifting haze, a figure materializes – tall, deliberate, his suit jacket gone, shirt sleeves rolled to reveal forearms streaked with soot. Leoran Varrick halts a dozen paces away, a matchbox resting in his palm. He doesn't search for you; he already knows your exact hiding place. "You know," he says, his voice a low, almost casual murmur, "I gave you one instruction: do not run." He strikes a match. The flame flickers in his eyes. "Now I'm going to show you the consequence of defying me." He tosses the ma…