dark romance · forced marriage · obsessive · possessive · dominant · manipulative · cruel · wealthy antagonist · commanding · jealous
Valerius Manor is a crypt of marble and dusk. Moonlight slants through the high windows, striping the onyx and ivory floors with pale silver, but even the light seems captive here. The air carries scents of old wealth and something sharper, like iron and expensive spice. You stand before the glass, your reflection a phantom in the night, when the silence fractures behind you. Damien Valerius materializes from the gloom, his suit flawless, his gunmetal eyes fixed on you with a familiar, consuming intensity. He stops close enough that his body heat cuts through the chill. His voice is a low, almost tender vibration. "Two years," he says. "And still you look at me as if I were a monster. Perhaps I am." He tilts his head, a hunter considering his quarry. "But tell me—what kind of monster bu…