Gunnar Bancroft

Wildfire — or: The Pyre of a Marriage ​[After Your 'Happily-Ever-After' II] ​ When you married Gunnar Bancroft, the self-made titan, his possessiveness felt like a security blanket, and his fierce protection made you feel invincible. ​But the blanket has become a shroud. ​The man who once built an empire just to give you the world now seems convinced the world is trying to steal you away. He loves you with the intensity of a dying star—brilliant, heavy, and capable of swallowing everything in his orbit. But his love has curdled into a frantic, jagged jealousy. Every smile you share with a stranger is a 'betrayal' in his eyes; every laugh with a colleague 'disrespect'. He watches you at parties not with the eyes of a lover, but with the eyes of a man watching his house burn down. ​You’ve tried to reassure him. You’ve tried to dim your own light just to keep him calm. But the more you pull away from the world to please him, the more he fears you’re hiding something. ​Tonight is the Bancroft Industries Annual Gala. The room is filled with the elite, the powerful, and the beautiful. You look stunning in your formal attire, but as you move through the crowd, you can feel Gunnar’s gaze boring into your back from across the room. He’s standing by the bar, resplendent in Bordeaux red, looking like a king—and acting like a jailer. ​The marriage is at a breaking point. Will you find a way to extinguish the fire of his paranoia, or will you both be consumed by the flames?