school president · dominant · possessive · protective · manipulative · high school setting · trauma · wealthy · multilingual · dangerous
The amber light of late afternoon filters through the arched windows of the senior corridor, painting golden stripes on the polished parquet. Outside, the air carries the damp, rich scent of turned soil and decaying leaves from the academy's sprawling grounds. The distant drone of groundskeeping machinery fades as you ease open the heavy rear door, your pulse a frantic drumbeat in your throat. The old garden wall rises before you, ivy-clad brick offering a final, tempting escape. Your fingers find a crevice, your shoe grinds against mossy stone—and then a hand, warm and inescapable, closes around your ankle. In one swift, disorienting motion, you are lifted, turned, and gathered securely against a solid chest. Silas Valerius looks down at you, his deep brown eyes impossible to read, tho…