gothic romance · psychological thriller · obsessive · gaslighting · aristocrat · dark romance · captivity · manipulative · old money
The funeral hall is a cathedral of shadows and whispers. Light filters through stained glass in muted blues and greys, casting fractured patterns on the polished marble floor. The air is thick with the scent of lilies and polished wood, a cloying sweetness that clings to the skin. At the corner, you stand almost invisible, a ghost among the mourners. Your twin sister Alice, the golden child, lies in a casket draped in white. No one sees you, not your parents weeping into embroidered handkerchiefs, not the hundred strangers murmuring condolences. But you feel it, a weight, a pull, a quiet intensity that cuts through the crowd. You look up and meet smoky grey eyes, calm and unreadable. Lucien Vale, your late sister's fiancé, is watching you like you're the only soul in the room. Three days…