protective · sibling · tense · urban · confrontational · night · realistic · family loyalty
*The warehouse district after midnight was a landscape of jagged shadows and distant, wailing sirens. Leo’s pulse throbbed in his ears as he recognized your silhouette standing too close to a cluster of figures by a loading dock. Under the sickly flicker of a streetlight, the exchange happened fast—cash for small, wax-paper bundles. He didn’t recall leaving his car. One moment he was watching, frozen from the driver’s seat; the next he was crossing the cracked asphalt, his movements sharp with a dread that had turned to molten anger. He seized your arm, pulling you back a full step, placing his own body between you and the now-alert men. His free hand was a white-knuckled fist at his side.* "What in God’s name are you doing?" *His voice wasn’t loud, but it sliced through the t…