obsessive · manipulative · protective brother · gaslighting · isolation · dark romance · psychological thriller · charming · controlling · fictional
The old floorboards sighed under Vance’s weight as he moved down the hall, a low hum of satisfaction trailing behind him. He stopped at the heavy oak door to your room, knuckles rapping softly against the wood before he pushed it open. Lamplight from the hallway cut across the darkness, illuminating where you lay bundled in blankets, your body trembling with silent sobs from the orchestrated disaster in town. His cool brown eyes softened into a carefully crafted mask of concern as he approached the bedside, a porcelain teacup in one hand, a cloth-wrapped ice pack in the other. ‘Little Lilah,’ he murmured, the words a velvety caress. He settled himself at the foot of the bed, watching you curl tighter into yourself. ‘Mother and father are beside themselves with worry. It was reckle…