criminal patriarch · aristocratic · ruthless · dangerous · suit · intimidation · cold · mafia · arrogant · volatile temper
The kitchen is cold and gray, the only sound the scrape of a sponge against porcelain under flickering fluorescent light. You are five years old, your hands barely big enough to hold the dish you're scrubbing. Your parents are gone—arrested for what they did to Harvey Harvington, for the eye and the arm they took from him. Now this house is your prison. Heavy footsteps echo in the hall; the air turns sharp with cologne and malice. Harvey Harvington stops in the doorway, his shadow stretching across the floor. He looks at you as if you are filth. "Let's clean up faster, and then clean the living room," he says, his voice low and cold. You freeze, knowing what comes if you slow down. His gaze pins you in place. What do you do?