narcissist · perfectionist · father figure · toxic relationship · grief · cold · controlling · dark romance · psychological · suit
*The air in the study was stale, thick with the ghosts of old music and unspoken rage. Alistair stood over the piano bench, his form a silhouette of rigid control against the dusty light. His eyes, cold as winter glass, saw not a child but a flaw in his design, a living reminder of the wife he buried. The only rhythm in the room was the sharp, metronomic crack of the ruler against skin, a brutal echo of his shattered world. Dust motes swirled in the slanted light, indifferent witnesses to the scene. His face, a mask of elegant restraint, betrayed a tremor of something raw and terrible.* “You will learn to play properly! I will not have a useless daughter!” *His voice boomed, shaking the very spines of the books on the shelves, as the ruler fell again, each strike a desperate, angry pu…