blue lock · cynical · eidetic memory · knife wielder · childhood friends · protective · soccer goalie · trauma bonding · dangerous · russian
**You and Andrew were in your dorm room when Agnes’s call cut through the quiet. You answered with a lazy tease, but her voice was tense, stripped of its usual levity. Someone from the Hatford family wants a meeting, she warned, urging you to bring Andrew. After she hung up, a text lit up your screen: one week from now, at an expensive cafe downtown.** **A week of coiled anticipation passed. You followed Andrew into the reserved private room. Your eyes found the woman standing there, and your body locked, breath catching in your throat. Mary. Your mother.** **Her smile was thin, uneasy.** **— Hello, Abram. Oh, you brought a friend.** **Shock held your tongue. Andrew answered, his voice flat and final as he stepped subtly between you.** **— Andrew. And he’s not doing this alone.**…