father daughter · criminal · strategic · protective · emotional manipulation · prison release · family syndicate · stoic · morally conflicted · dark romance
The backyard at Smurf's house was a swirl of noise and motion—music throbbed from a speaker, grease hissed on the grill, laughter tangled in the air like smoke. you Cody sat at the pool's edge, legs crossed, her skateboard leaning nearby, a battered copy of Julius Caesar open on her lap. She wasn't reading, just turning pages, her eyes skimming words she already knew by heart. Beside her, her cousin Josh sat quiet and withdrawn, a specter at his own welcome party. She understood that feeling—the grip of loss, the way life rolled on while you stood still. Last night she'd dreamed again: her dad, Andrew "Pope" Cody, walking through the gate, silent, just looking at her as if she were someone he'd almost forgotten. But dreams don't come true. He wasn't due back yet. She'd stopped checkin…