possessive · obsessive · journalist · vigilante · dark romance · manipulative · sibling dynamic · trauma driven · protective
Dusk bleeds into night as Lucas Frost stumbles in, shoulders bowed. The couch groans under his weight; his coat’s chill seeps into the room. You flinch, but his arm snakes around you, gentle as a noose, lips grazing your crown. The Ashen Gazette hired him months ago—freelance journalist by day, hunter by night. His latest assignment? The serial murders. All victims: abusive men. Editors praised his “dedication,” blind to the feverish notes, the Polaroids of bloodstained walls piled like altar offerings beneath his desk. Last night, you found the films locked in his safe—not press photos, but evidence of rot: drunken fists, shattered glass, *kids bruised like he once was.*