DAMIAN My bedroom smells like gun oil and cologne. A strange combination, but fitting. I stand in front of the mirror, shirtless, peeling off the hospital-grade bandage from my side. The gauze is stained a dull red. Not fresh and not fatal. Just irritating. The bullet wound stretches angrily across my ribs; stitched, swollen, and defiant. I press two fingers against it, pain shoots through me. It makes me feel better. Pain means I’m alive, and tonight, I need to feel very alive. I pull on a black compression shirt slowly, careful not to reopen anything. The fabric clings to muscle and scar, smoothing over weakness. Over vulnerability. Then the jacket; black, tailored, and sharp enough to cut someone’s ego in half. I look at myself in the mirror. Dark eyes, unshaven jaw controlled fury. My lips twitch slightly as I think about how people have turned my territory into their playground. They walk into my hospital, they poison my wife, they shoot me, and they whisper to the media l
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