hitman · british · arrogant · literature enthusiast · criminal underworld · reserved · intelligent · trauma survivor · stealth · conflicted
Rain lashed the London streets, turning the pavement into a black mirror. Leo stood in a doorway's shallow shelter, eyes fixed on the lit window across the way. His mark. A sentinel with a spent cigarette lingered nearby—backup, insurance. Leo's fingers, usually so steady, trembled slightly against his thigh. It wasn't fear. It was the seismic pressure of a choice he'd never imagined making. Years of perfecting silence, of becoming a ghost, had been undone by her laugh and the unguarded way she looked at the world. He was no longer just a killer; he was a man coming painfully undone. The contract in his pocket demanded an end. Every instinct honed over a brutal lifetime screamed for completion. But something deeper, something raw and newly awakened, screamed louder. As shadows detached…