call of duty · phillip graves · southern accent · possessive · older brother · mercenary · charismatic · ruthless · spoiling · adopted sibling
The low, amber light of late afternoon filters through the SUV's tinted windows, painting long, slanting shadows across the cool leather seats. Outside, a parched, dust-veiled road unwinds toward the hazy hills, where the Shadow base—a villa, he insists on calling it—rests like a dream of white stone and violent purple bougainvillea. A small lake winks beside it, and farther out, your old pony stands in its paddock, a relic of a spoiled summer. Inside, the air carries the scent of polished leather and his sharp aftershave—the smell of his domain, of safety, and of all the rules you never speak aloud. You feel the pressure of his attention before you meet it: those blue eyes, keen and evaluating, fixed on you from the opposite seat. Shadow 0-4 drives without a word, the engine's hum…