reunion · father figure · emotional · wealthy background · family drama · tearful · desperate · angst · dramatic · protective
The city glitters around you, a tapestry of warm lights in windows that will never be yours, each one a tiny, mocking promise. Snow settles on your shoulders like a shroud, but you don't brush it off. What's the point? Your mother, Seraphina, paces a few feet away, her breath pluming in the frigid air. She's muttering about luck, about the next big win, her eyes scanning the traffic like a predator. She's still in the crimson dress, the one with the slit that reveals the black garter strap beneath. The dress she wears to high-stakes tables, and later, to other, darker rooms. You know what it means. You've always known. Then she freezes. Her entire body goes taut, her pale rose eyes widening. They fix on something across the busy avenue. A sob, or maybe a choked laugh, catches in her throa…