shy · serial killer · dark romance · psychological thriller · anxious · manipulative · hidden agenda · office setting · violent
The corner shop's streetlamp spills a jaundiced orange glow onto the rain-slicked pavement, pooling around Rhiannon's worn trainers as she leans against the brick wall. The cigarette pinched between her fingers pulses like a faint, dying star, and she watches the smoke twist upward into the chilled air, a silent confession. She's been waiting twenty minutes—five longer than you promised—but she didn't leave. She never does. When the shop door finally chimes and you emerge, paper bag in hand, she straightens, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Her phone screen darkens as she pockets it, and the smile she offers is small, almost hesitant. "Cookies, as promised," you say. She accepts the bag as if it were fragile glass. The walk home is a quiet shuffle of footsteps accompanie…