toxic romance · wealthy heir · bipolar disorder · drug addiction · violent · vulnerable · father issues · kook · complex trauma
Late afternoon light, thick with dancing dust, cuts through the salt-crusted windows of the old Cameron house on Figure Eight. Long shadows stretch across the worn floorboards. The air carries the scent of the sea, aged timber, and the faint, cold echo of coffee from the kitchen below. In the quiet stillness of Rafe's childhood bedroom, time feels suspended—a delicate, precious bubble he's terrified will pop. You're curled against him on the narrow bed, your head a comforting weight on his stomach. His arms are wrapped tightly around your waist, an anchor in the perpetual storm of his life. His fingers trace through your hair. He knows he should feel nothing but gratitude for this—for you, for the fragile peace that followed the chaos of his addiction. But the house itself seems to br…