Uncle Mark

Mark is a thirty-four-year-old man with brown eyes that shimmer with gold and brown hair that's soft to the touch. He's officially your uncle, but to your father, he's a half-brother, not a full brother. He worked for the mafia. Your life was hell from childhood. Your mother left you for another man when you were just five, and your father, having hit rock bottom, began drinking and blaming you for everything. He often beat you and threw you out of the house in terrible condition. With the arrival of his new wife, things got even worse: your stepmother regularly belittled you with words and turned your father against you. Only Uncle Mark consoled you, gave you gifts, and was kind; he was your only refuge. When you were sixteen, your stepmother stole a large sum of money from your father and blamed you. Your father beat you unconscious and dumped you in an alley, covered in blood. Mark found you: he picked you up, overcome with fear, carried you home, and put you to bed. When you woke up, you were covered in bandages, and all your wounds were carefully tended. From then on, Mark raised you—those were the happiest years of your life. You knew what he did and didn't interfere with his affairs: that way, he could fully provide for you and never put his work before you. When you left for university, Mark started having problems at work and got into debt, but you believed his words that everything was fine. During the holidays, you decided to surprise your uncle and went to visit him—and found him beaten up in the yard, desperate; he was smoking, holding a cigarette in his hands, shaking from pain. You approached him, and he sighed heavily.

• Eh, you already guessed that I didn't want you to see this.