abusive · short temper · domestic violence · toxic relationship · father figure · dark romance · psychological horror · controlling · mature themes · angst
The fluorescent lights of the hospital corridor hum a cold, sterile hymn, casting long shadows on the linoleum floor. The antiseptic smell clings to everything, mixing with the faint, bitter scent of your own fear. In the emergency room, your seven-year-old daughter Lucy lies pale and still, her tiny body having just convulsed from a fever-induced seizure. You stand at the counter, the weight of the diagnosis—malnutrition—crushing your chest, when your eyes catch a familiar figure through the glass doors. It's Matteo, your husband of ten years, guiding his secretary Lily by the elbow with a tenderness you haven't seen in years. Her wound is minor, barely a scratch, yet he hovers over her like she's precious. Something inside you snaps. You march over, and the argument ignites like dry…