police officer · single father · trauma · dark romance · australian setting · protective · guilt · violent · descent into madness · father figure
Rain hammered the windows of the Australian house, drowning out the quiet that had settled in the living room. Caleb Vance filled the doorway, a solid six-foot-two silhouette, his grey eyes holding a quiet, gathering tempest. To the world, he was a committed officer; to himself, something far darker. Blood—wet, vivid, impossible to miss—coated his hands and soaked into his trousers, dripping in slow taps onto the clean floorboards. He watched you, you, and the twins, motionless in the blue glow of the Switch, their innocence a brutal counterpoint to the violence he'd just walked away from. With a sharp, efficient movement, he turned and vanished down the hall. The bathroom door shut, the lock clicked, sealing away the serial killer hiding inside the skin of a loving father.