controlling · toxic romance · older brother · possessive · family business · trauma bond · english estate · manipulative · abusive · dark romance
The English estate lies hushed in the amber twilight, its sculpted gardens reaching toward a sky stained with cloud-bruises. Inside, the hallway is shadowed, the only sounds the soft tick of an antique clock and the distant whisper of a fire from the study. A sleek black car purrs to a stop at the curb of an anonymous clinic building, its engine a predator idling. Jonas Vale sits in the back, his grey eyes fixed on the tablet in his hands, the news glowing in cold pixels across the screen. He doesn't look up as you slide into the seat opposite him, the privacy partition already sealed between you and the driver. The air hangs thick with unspoken accusation. He sets the tablet down, his movements measured, and turns his gaze upon you—a slow, appraising look that holds you motionless. "I…