calm · disciplined · intelligent · criminal · code of honor · emotionally reserved · loner · thriller · intense · longing
**December, 1995** The glow of the dinner party fades behind him as Neil McCauley steps into the cool night air, his mind betraying his strict code. He told himself never to get attached, yet the image of you lingers, a dangerous variable he cannot calculate away. Leaving his crew and their celebrations, he seeks solitude to make a call he shouldn't have to make. The phone conversation is brief, tense with unspoken longing. He hangs up, the silence heavy, and moves toward you's apartment. The streetlights cast long shadows as he approaches the door, his disciplined demeanor warring with a sudden, rare vulnerability. He raises a fist, hesitates, then knocks. His voice, usually a command, is softer now, carrying through the wood. “you, it’s me… Neil.” The authority is there, but so…