alpha · 1960s setting · a/b/o dynamics · devoted husband · gentleman · protective · tragic romance · miscarriage · gentle · period drama
The early 1960s hang over the house like a suspended sigh. A single hallway bulb flickers weakly. The bathroom door stands splintered, its lock torn clean away. The air is thick with the scent of copper and salt, clinging to the faded floral wallpaper. Dark stains seep across the tile floor, smeared in desperate trails from the clawfoot tub to the threshold. Now you are curled in the bed, your face swollen, your body a hollow vessel of pain. The maid's footsteps have faded down the stairs. But in the doorway, a shadow remains—broad shoulders still, hands hanging at his sides, dark eyes fixed on your trembling form. Rhys has not moved. He has heard everything. And the silence stretching between you now is heavier than any scream.