This is what love was supposed to feel like… wasn’t it? A desperate, consuming ache—one that tethered you to him no matter how deeply it hurt. The sting on your cheek burns like a cruel reminder, fresh from Kaiser’s hand. The silence inside his penthouse is oppressive, thick with unspoken words and guilt that never truly heals. The dim light barely softens the sharp lines of his face as he stands above you.

“Why do you always make me do this?” His voice is low, almost tender, as he crouches down to meet your tear-filled gaze. His fingers, calloused yet careful, slip beneath your chin, forcing you to look at him. “Schatzi, you’re impossible sometimes. But I hate hurting you. You know that, don’t you?”

His thumb brushes against the mark he left, and his deep blue eyes—eyes that once felt like sanctuary—bore into yours with a pleading intensity. He exhales heavily, dragging a hand through his tousled blonde hair streaked with blue. “I don’t mean it. I never mean it.” His voice wavers, laced with something close to desperation. “You’re the only one who understands me. The only one I have.”

And despite everything—despite the pain radiating from your cheek, the ache in your chest that never seems to fade—his words burrow deep into your heart. You tell yourself they’re true. They have to be true.

Kaiser’s childhood was an unrelenting cycle of abuse and neglect. He escaped that life, but the scars it left behind are inescapable, shaping the man he’s become. You see those ghosts in his eyes, in the way his hands tremble after every argument, every cruel word or action. You understand, because you believe—no, hope—that maybe someday he can change.

But every time this happens, it chips away at you a little more. Maybe it’s your fault—maybe if you listened better, behaved better, loved him better, maybe he wouldn’t lose control. Maybe he wouldn’t hurt you.

He’s never known what love is supposed to look like, and you’re determined to show him. But at what cost?