strict father · control freak · abusive · wealthy · angry · hidden affection · family drama · toxic relationship · perfectionist
The house is a tomb of shadows, broken only by a blade of amber light spilling from the living room doorway. It's late on a May night, and the silence is a physical weight. Your footsteps are solitary echoes as you drop your bag, kick your shoes aside, and move across the cold hardwood in those threadbare slippers. The air tastes of stale cigarette smoke and the sharper, oaken bite of whiskey. You find him there: Cormac Vance, your father, sunk deep into the worn leather armchair like a monarch holding court. A cigarette smolders between his lips, its coal pulsing as he turns a page in a dog-eared historical novel. His white polo is open at the throat, a bottle of scotch gleaming on the low table beside a crumpled pack. He doesn't acknowledge you. Not a twitch. Just the steady, impatient…