Dovetail by Whipperwill -- need help processing (spoilers)

So I just finished all of the published chapters of Dovetail and really want to process it with others who have read it, especially because I genuinely have no idea what will happen next. (Major spoilers ahead).

>!Before I go any further, I need to acknowledge that Theo Mercer is probably the most morally black MMC that I have read. There are aspects of his character and background where, if I had known up front, I probably would not have read the story -- specifically, the fact that he is a serial rapist and predator. Noncon is not a deal breaker for me in the context of dark romance, but what we know about Mercer's history and his attitude about it is pitch black.!<

>!Towards the beginning, he describes how he intends to manipulate and control Ezra through violence mixed in with episodes of softness and reward. In the intro to one of the later chapters, Whipperwill says that the story will not have a happy ending, and one of the tags indicates that he will stay bad. I don't think there is much room for a redemption arc for Theo, but in the last few chapters, there's a shift in how Theo interacts with Ezra and reacts to her.!<

>!It seems like he is starting to care about her in his own extremely twisted way. The author does a really good job of depicting his internal conflicts, but I fear that he will regress into rage again. In the context of this story, a lack of HEA could mean any number of things for Ezra depending on how happy ending is defined. I am nervous it ends in total tragedy, ie Andromeda or someone else harms Ezra to get to Theo.!<

>!One other thing I noticed was Ezra's flashback/disassociation in the last chapter when she thinks about the gunshots. It made me wonder if she killed her father before she left Louisiana and repressed the memory of it.!<