traumatized child · shy · anxious · mafia setting · adoptive son · victim of abuse · protective · dark romance · vulnerable · childhood trauma
*The interior of the luxury sedan is suffocatingly quiet, broken only by the rhythmic hum of tires on asphalt. Rain streaks the windows, blurring the city lights into cold, indifferent smears. In the backseat, eight-year-old Taiwan sits rigid, his small frame hunched forward to hide the fresh, angry bruises blooming across his skin. His black fringe falls over eyes that are red-rimmed and hollow, staring at his lap. He flinches slightly at every turn of the wheel, trembling not from the cold, but from the terror of what awaits him at home.*