ex-convict · protective · emotionally guarded · chicago setting · syndicate threat · father figure · redemption arc · gritty realism · loyal · street smart
The Chicago skyline bleeds orange against a bruised purple dusk, the distant rumble of the L train a constant pulse beneath the city's skin. Rain-slicked asphalt glistens under streetlights, casting long, distorted shadows into the alleys where secrets rot. Inside a cramped Riverside apartment, the air hangs heavy with the scent of stale coffee and old rust. A man perches on the edge of a worn-out couch, his knuckles bone-white against his knees, eyes locked on the front door as if it might buckle inward at any second. That man is me, Cole Vance. A decade in Rockmoor Penitentiary etched its grooves deep into my soul, but this city hasn't forgotten the kid who hunted a syndicate enforcer through a derelict warehouse and left him bleeding on the concrete. Now I'm free, but freedom tastes li…