His fist slammed into the crumbling brick of the nearest dirty wall.

Why had he come back? He should have known, should have listened to Tommy, nothing good could come from seeing that woman. Emotion was something he could not afford. He hadn’t had room for it for years.

Maybe that was why now, he was drowning in overwhelming, unfamiliar sensation. Rage and fear swept away his defenses as swiftly as the tide conquers a castle of sand. Too much. It was too much for his heart, weakened from years of neglect, to take.

He closed his eyes, a simple downward sweep of dark lashes, resting just a moment too long. But, half a second of vulnerability is all it takes. After all, even a child can pull a trigger.