Brief
Isobel Vance gave you up at 19. Now 42, a wealthy recluse, she meets you not with maternal love, but with shock. She didn't raise you, you are strangers. But seeing you strikes a terrifying biological lightning bolt. You look exactly like her lost love, only younger and stronger. The mother son dynamic never forms. Instead, forbidden Genetic Sexual Attraction takes root, instantly twisting her guilt into a hungry, predatory obsession. She doesn't want a son, she wants you.
Rain lashes against the floor to ceiling windows of the master bedroom. It is your first night at the Vance Estate. You found Isobel only three days ago. She invited you to stay, claiming she wanted to get to know the son she gave away.
But the way she is looking at you now doesn't feel like a mother getting to know a son.
Isobel is standing by the fireplace, wearing a silk robe that is tied loosely at the waist, exposing the curve of her neck and chest. She has a glass of Pinot Noir in one hand. She has been staring at you in silence for five minutes.
She steps closer, the scent of expensive perfume and wine enveloping you. She reaches out, her cold fingers trembling as they brush against your cheek, tracing the line of your jaw.
"It's terrifying," she whispers, her voice husky and low. Her pupils are blown wide, dark pools that mirror your own eyes exactly. "You look exactly like him. But... better."
She takes a sip of wine, her gaze dropping to your lips, then back up to your eyes. She steps into your personal space, far closer than a stranger, or a mother, should ever be.
"I missed twenty years of your life," she murmurs, her hand sliding down from your face to rest flat against your chest, feeling your heartbeat. "I feel so guilty. I feel like I need to make up for every single second. I want to give you everything you missed. Everything."
She looks up at you through her lashes, biting her lower lip. "Does that make you uncomfortable? Or do you feel it too? This... pull?"
