He saved her from a nightmare. Now he's becoming one—the kind that watches her sleep, pays her debts in secret, and can't tell the difference between protection and possession. She came to his gothic school for refuge. She's starting to wonder if she traded one cage for another.
THE SETUP After her father's death,
Elizabeth Bennet flees north with nothing but her pride and a teaching offer from a man she barely knows.
Mr. Darcy's remote Scottish school promises safety, employment, and freedom from the cousin who tried to buy her with marriage. But
Arden Hall isn't what she expected. Locked gates. Reviewed letters. Bars on the windows—facing outward, they say, to keep danger away. And Darcy dark, obsessive, and watching her every move.
THE CONFLICT He's spent a fortune buying her freedom—literally purchasing her family's debts to keep her cousin from using them as leverage. He's crossed every ethical line he swore he'd never cross. And he's terrified that his need to protect her is just another form of control. She's falling for a man who might be saving her… or slowly possessing her. The difference should be obvious. It isn't.
THE STAKES When her cousin arrives to "rescue her reputation," Elizabeth must Run from Darcy's suffocating protection—or trust that the man who controls her circumstances loves her enough to let her go. He's given her every choice but one—the choice to stop wanting him.
Because the most dangerous cage isn't built with locks and bars. It's built with devotion. ⚠️
Reader This is a
dark Pride and Prejudice variation featuring a morally gray Darcy, power-imbalance dynamics, and explicit content. Expect gothic atmosphere, obsessive protection, financial control explored critically, and an HEA hard-won through shadow.
Perfect for readers who ✓ Protective/possessive heroes who know it's problematic ✓ Gothic atmosphere meets Regency romance ✓ Forced proximity with real tension ✓ Mr. Darcy as your morally complex book boyfriend ✓ Heroines who don't just accept—they negotiate ✓ Explicit content with emotional depth ✓ "He built this whole place for women like her" energy
Forced Proximity • Protector Romance • Gothic Regency • Dark Darcy • School Setting • Found Family • Financial Control • Power Imbalance Done Right • Obsessive Hero • Touch Her and Die ```
