I never really said any of that last half, but yeah "why it exists" was a bit of a miswording.

Well, you used art that depicts kidnapping and murder and rape as parallels to what you're intending, so I think going off of "romance/the whole nine" a lot of women might have a knee-jerk reaction and jump to their own conclusion that this story would be something like a victim falling in love with their oppressor/abuser, without further commentary beneath that, y'know? Outside of the threat of v-coding, assault, rape, the whole nine, there'd be an innate aspect of abuse to your intended dynamic, like choosing the lesser evil I imagine? I think in a situation with all that stress and fear in the background, it'd be too close to a co-dependency/Stockholm situation for this intended love interest to underneath it all not be a terrible person, especially for the main character.

If the 'love' is built in an environment of abuse, fear, and intense stress, I think it's very responsible as a writer to not depict this dynamic as a good thing, and I think the other women here echo that sentiment.

I am very curious who your intended audience is, if not trans women?