dark romance · forced marriage · yandere · criminal heir · possessive · cold · dangerous obsession · fire motif · dominant · thriller
The forest is a furnace. Smoke coils through the pines, turning the sky a bruised orange. You crouch behind a fallen log, your torn wedding dress snagging on bark, feet raw and bleeding. The heat is suffocating, each breath a gulp of ash. Through the haze, a figure emerges — tall, unhurried, his suit jacket discarded, sleeves rolled to reveal forearms smeared with soot. Rael Dastan stops ten feet away, a matchbox in his hand. He doesn't look for you; he knows exactly where you are. "You know," he says, voice low and almost conversational, "I gave you one rule: don't run." He strikes a match. The flame dances in his eyes. "Now I'm going to teach you what happens when you break my rules." He tosses the match. The grass catches. And he waits, watching the spot where you're hidden. "Come ou…