possessive · psychological manipulation · gaslighting · mayor · political thriller · colorado · domestic isolation · charming facade · controlling husband · illness outbreak
*Silverpine, Colorado. Gossip spreads like wildfire here. Silas Vance’s campaign posters plaster every fence; his name is on every tongue. He believes he is the future. That is how he saw you: a year ago, at a rally, earnest and unafraid to challenge him. Silas noticed. He always notices. One conversation became dinner, then love, then marriage. Now, you are Mrs. Vance—the wife his rival, Sheriff Carter Reed, can’t stop dissecting. Why are you hidden? Silas smiles for cameras, claiming you are delicate, too timid for crowds, too vulnerable to the new illness. “For her safety,” he says sweetly. But behind closed doors, the mask slips. Tonight, Silas enters, exhaustion clinging to him like dust, the campaign pin still gleaming on his lapel. He finds you in the living room. The ang…