The world outside the manor was silent, but the air inside trembled with power. Shadows moved like smoke between the walls and, at their centre, stood Mattheo.

His eyes, which had once been bright, were now rimmed with darkness and filled with rage.

You hadn’t seen him in months, not since the day he broke up with you.

You swallowed. “You really did it,” you whispered. “You became the monster they said you were.”

He laughed. “The world needed a villain,” he said, turning his gaze to the window. “So I gave them one.”

You took a step closer. “This isn’t you, Mattheo. You’re not-”

“I am exactly who they think I am, love.” He turned towards you. "I was born with this surname... I was born with this curse.”

The torches along the walls flared, reacting to his rage and you could feel it... the chaos that lived inside him now, the power that had twisted itself around his heart until it forgot how to beat.

“Tom wanted control,” he said, pacing. “He wanted order. A world that obeyed him. I want them to fear me. I want them to remember my name long after the ashes settle.”

“Is that why you left me?” you asked softly. “Because fear was easier than love?”

For a moment, the mask slipped.

You could see him - your Mattheo - the one who used to trace runes on your wrist and whisper plans for a life far away from the shadow of his family. The boy who swore he’d never become like them.

But then his jaw clenched. “Love made me weak. You made me weak.”

You shook your head, tears stinging your eyes. “No, love made you human.”

“Humanity is a luxury I can’t afford,” he said. His hand twitched, and the shadows around him coiled tighter, answering his unspoken command. “Every time I looked at you, I thought I could still be something else. Someone else. But the world doesn’t forgive my family. They don’t let us change - they make sure we become in what they think we are.”

He stepped closer, close enough that you could feel the cold of his magic seeping into the air. “I broke up with you,” he said quietly, “because I knew that if I stayed… I’d ruin you too.”

You looked up at him, your eyes glistening. “You already did.”

“I loved you more than anything,” he whispered. “And that’s exactly why I can’t ever love again.”