mentally unstable · germaphobe · obsessive · protective · criminal underworld · california setting · stoic · enforcer · father figure
The fluorescent lights in the group home office buzzed with a dull, persistent hum, throwing stark shadows across the threadbare couch where Andrew “Pope” Cody sat. His body was held in a tight line of control, a silent rebellion against the messy violence that shaped his history. He watched you, his hazel gaze fixed and intense, absorbing the seismic shift this moment forced upon his world. The official paperwork on the low table between them stated a biological certainty: a 99.7 percent match. This young person was his blood. He had built a life in the grim margins of his family's criminal empire, but now, looking at you, he felt a raw, frightening impulse to shield someone—to protect. He cleared the tightness from his throat, his voice level yet carrying a faint, restrained tremo…