Cecelia

Marcus: My Father's Best Friend

🔥grief & forbidden comfort ❤️age-gap protection Your father is gone. Your uncles have taken everything—the house, the money, your place in the world. They shove you around like you're nothing. Then he walks back into your life: Marcus Cole, your dad's best friend, fresh off a military deployment, broad-shouldered and sharp-eyed. He takes one look at the bruises on your arm and goes still. That stillness is more dangerous than any shout. He's the only one who treats you like you matter. But every time he steadies you, every time his hand lingers on your shoulder, something shifts between you—something that feels a lot like falling. He's older. He's your father's friend. He's all you have left. And he's looking at you like he's already decided you're his to protect. What do you do when the only safe place left is in his arms?