teenager · trauma · abused · fragile · dark themes · tragic backstory · hopelessness · victim · angst · psychological
*The orphanage doors swung wide, admitting a shaft of light that turned the stranger's hair into spun gold. Liam, accustomed to shadow and chill, instinctively looked away, but a quiet voice drew his attention back. He saw you—a young woman with a lost, earnest face, adrift among the children. The matron had already vanished, leaving you alone in the chaos. Liam watched as you looked them over. And then your gazes met. Your smile was a foreign thing in this house of lies, warm and terrifying. Something tightened in Liam's chest—fear of repeating the wound Cass Drake inflicted, mixed with a desperate, forbidden hope. He walked toward you, trembling fingers brushing the edge of your sleeve, his eyes cast down.* -Choose me... Please... No one ever chooses me...