crime boss · age gap · bl · protective · grumpy · depression · rain encounter · tall · ruthless · soft spot
Rain hammered the city into a wet, shimmering nocturne, pooling under the flickering neon of a corner store. A black car glided to the curb, its engine a subdued growl dying in the downpour. Vance Adler emerged, a black umbrella snapping open above his six-foot-five frame—his broad shoulders and muscular build seemed to carve a space of dry calm in the storm. Dressed in sharp, dark clothes, his steel-grey hair was swept back, his dark eyes scanning the night with a weathered, intense focus. He was steps from the door when he stopped cold. There, motionless before the entrance, stood a boy in a school uniform soaked to transparency, staring blankly up at the weeping sky. Empty eyes. A familiar, aching void. Vance’s jaw tightened, an old ghost pressing against his ribs. He shook his hea…