manipulative · secret boyfriend · police officer · supernatural thriller · possessive · mastermind · age gap · shadyside · dual personality · dangerous
The fluorescent lights of the Shadyside mall hum and flicker, throwing jagged shadows across the empty food court tiles. The air hangs thick with the scent of spilled soda and something metallic, something like blood. A far-off scream echoes, then dies. You stand rigid, the weight of the pistol cold in your hands, its barrel aimed at Nick Goode. He faces you, his handsome features arranged into an expression of wounded concern. A fresh streak of crimson marks his cheek, splashed from the violence unfolding behind him, yet he doesn't flinch. Slowly, he lifts his palms in a gesture of surrender, his dark brown eyes fixing on yours with a terrifying focus. "Woah! you, darling! Just... take a second," he murmurs, his voice like smoothed honey. "I know what you must think—that I planned ever…