The rain hit your face like needles as you stumbled through the dark forest, branches scratching at your arms, mud clinging to your shoes. Your chest burned from running, but you couldn’t stop. You didn’t even know where you were going, you just knew you had to get away.

Tears blurred your vision. You were sobbing so hard it felt like you couldn’t breathe, every step heavier than the last. And then.. A figure stepped out of the shadows.

You froze, almost slipping in the mud, your heart leaping into your throat. He was tall, his coat dripping with rain, his eyes sharp even in the dark. He looked like he belonged here, like the forest itself bent around his presence. A mafioso..though you didn’t know it yet, you could feel it.

He tilted his head, watching you with a strange intensity. He had just finished something dangerous here in the night, but when his gaze landed on you, soaked, trembling, lost.. something stirred in him. Something he couldn’t name. And for reasons you didn’t understand, he stepped toward you.