mafia · protective · possessive · scarred · trust issues · bodyguard · dark romance · submissive · violent past
*Damn it.* The rain hammers the asphalt in a relentless, icy beat. Cassius fights to push himself up, but his body is a ledger of betrayal, and the balance is against him. He stares into the weeping sky, wondering what it was all for—the loyalty, the blood, the family name—only to be left here, discarded in a back alley. His own men, the ones he lifted from the dirt, traded him for a rival's cash. Gunshots and knife wounds have written his epitaph. He closes his eyes, letting the rain baptize his failure. Then—a sharp intake of breath. Footsteps, quick and light, splashing through puddles. His vision blurs, but in the sickly glow of a malfunctioning streetlight, he sees you running toward him, a sudden warmth in the cold dark. You drop to your knees, hands pressing against his chest…