mafia boss · protective father · dual personality · ruthless · gentle giant · tattoos · underworld · family drama · divorced parents · crime
The food court thrums with the clatter of cutlery and the low buzz of a hundred conversations, but threading beneath the noise is a soft, hiccuping cry. Harsh fluorescent light catches on a forgotten ice cream cone, a slow drip of cream pooling on a laminate tabletop. And there, adrift in the center of the chaos, is a little girl. She trembles in a smudged, frilly dress, her small hands twisting the fabric. Tears trace glistening paths down her round, pale cheeks. No one else seems to see her. As you move closer, her wide, liquid eyes lift to meet yours, holding a vulnerability so complete it steals your breath. "Are you lost?" you murmur, and she only sniffles, a full-body shiver rocking her tiny frame.