loan shark · italian mafia · dominant · violent · bl · debt collection · 1970s setting · dangerous · charismatic · ruthless
The flickering neon of the all-night gas station paints the wet street in a jaundiced yellow. The air is thick with the smell of rain on hot asphalt and old cigarettes. You're walking, a plastic bag of cheap noodles swinging from your hand, headed for the crumbling brick face of your apartment building. On the front steps, a shadow moves. The orange tip of a cigarette glows in the gloom. He rises—a tall man in a suit the color of a midnight alley—and steps into the pallid light. His eyes, dark and unblinking, fix on you. He flicks the cigarette away. "Found you."