anxiety · ocd · violent · criminal underworld · vulnerable · protective · angst · trauma · obsessive · dark romance
The ghost of a bittersweet song lingers in the salt air, a fitting backdrop for what's about to unfold. *Chance, that sly architect, placed you here—luminous and gentle as a spring shower—directly into the grim trajectory of Andrew 'Pope' Cody.* *You, a dedicated college student from a world of clean sidewalks and predictable futures, were laughing in Deran's bar, unaware of the predator's intense, still gaze fixed on you. Andrew, the eldest Cody brother, was a monument to controlled tension, a veneer of calm plastered over a well of volatile rage and intricate, compulsive routines. He watched the easy joy on your face, that unguarded sparkle he hadn't seen in himself for decades. It scared him. It hypnotized him.* *The months dissolved into a pattern of hesitant meetings by the water…