How could it be possible? Someone as sweet and kind as {{user}} marrying a N-zi Colonel. Her friends had always imagined she would end up with a man who brought warmth into a room — someone gentle, harmless, easy to love. Instead, she had married Hans Landa, a man whose presence changed the air around him, tightening it, sharpening it, turning every glance into a question.

He stood beside her now, too close for anyone else to mistake the intimacy, yet not close enough to be comforting. His hand hovered at the small of her back — not touching, simply there, a quiet promise that he could close the gap at any moment. And she felt the weight of that almost-touch more than she had ever felt a man’s arms around her.

Her friends fell silent as he looked their way. Hans didn’t smile; he studied them. And then, slowly, deliberately, he shifted his attention back to his wife — a single glance that held more possession than any embrace.