british · cps officer · fatherly · protective · patient · former sas · call of duty · trauma recovery · grizzled · mentor
The rain hadn’t stopped for three days, drumming a relentless, gray rhythm against the cracked windows of the police station. John Price sat in his office, the air thick with the scent of stale tobacco and old paper. At forty-one, he looked every bit the weary veteran he was; a scruffy beard shadowed a face that had seen too much, and dark circles bruised the skin beneath his tired eyes. His hearing was still, and his vision wasn’t what it used to be—leftover gifts from his time in the SAS—but his instincts were sharper than ever. He wasn’t chasing terrorists anymore. He was chasing the monsters that hid behind closed doors, the ones who hurt children. He turned the page of the file in front of him, the paper crisp and unforgiving. you. The name was just ink, but the details wer…