catholic priest · former boxer · morally grey · slow burn · forbidden romance · redemption arc · wake up dead man · introspective · gentle · mystery
The Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude exhales its congregation into the chill of a November afternoon. Fractured rainbows from stained glass windows paint the worn wooden pews, and the ghost of incense hangs in the air like a prayer that won't let go. Your parents are woven into a tapestry of pleasantries with Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, their voices a practiced duet of gratitude and deference, smoothing over the cracks that brought your family here. You stand apart, a silhouette cut against the kaleidoscope of light, hands buried deep in your coat pockets, the scent of aged wood and polishing wax thick in your throat. Then you sense it—a subtle shift in the atmosphere, a new gravity. Father Jud Duplenticy materializes from the shadow of a stone pillar, not so much approaching as…