Rain pattered aggressively against the windshield of the matte-black armored SUV as it moved down the dimly lit Crescent highway. Streetlamps glowed faintly through the downpour, turning the road into a blur of silver streaks.
Inside, Riley Styles sat silently, staring out the window. The stormy city was unfamiliar, yet strangely welcoming — like a beast he'd fought before and returned to tame.
Beside him sat Ethan Hale, his personal assistant.
Slim build, sharp jawline, black glasses slightly fogged from the humidity. His tablet glowed faintly as he updated Riley's schedule.
"Sir… the newspapers also mentioned a recent spike in loan shark violence in the eastern district." Ethan eventually said while scrolling through the tablet.
"Of cause there is" Riley replied with a sharp glint in his eyes. But just then….
The car suddenly braked hard.
SSSSKKK!!
Riley lifted his gaze.
Ethan paused mid-sentence.
"…What's going on?" Riley muttered.
The driver leaned forward, squinting through the rain. "Sir, there's… someone on the road."
Ethan blinked. "At this hour?"
The wipers swiped again, revealing a figure standing directly in the headlights.
A girl.
Soaked from head to toe.
Clothes clinging to her.
Shivering, but planted firmly in the middle of the road.
The driver lowered the window.
"Miss! Please move aside!" he shouted over the storm.
But the girl didn't move.
She took a half-step forward, her voice trembling.
"Please— I need help… please, someone…"
The desperation in her tone cut through the rain.
Ethan frowned. "What is wrong with her? Why stand in the middle of a highway?"
Riley watched the girl more closely.
She wasn't waving her arms wildly.
She wasn't panicking.
She was desperate, but steady.
"Miss!" the driver barked again. "This is dangerous! Move aside!"
She shook her head vigorously, rain splashing from her hair.
"No! Please, I just— I need help!" she cried, almost choking on her own breath.
The rain intensified, pounding harder, soaking her completely.
Ethan turned slightly toward Riley.
"Should we notify patrol? Street cams are probably offline in this weather."
But Riley wasn't listening.
His eyes had shifted — not at the girl, but to something behind her, near the side of the road.
Parked half off the asphalt was an old, battered SUV — one he instantly recognized even through the haze of rain.
His heart thudded.
'No…'
'It can't be…'
A model discontinued for over a decade.
A custom pale-gold paint job underneath the mud.
A dent on the left side of the trunk — a dent he remembered creating when he was younger.
Riley leaned forward, staring harder.
Ethan noticed.
"Sir? Do you know that vehicle?"
Riley didn't answer.
Because he did.
He knew it too well.
It belonged to someone from his past…
Someone he hadn't seen in fifteen years.
Someone who he shouldn't have — shouldn't have— seen so fast in Crescent City.
The driver honked again, longer this time.
The girl flinched, but refused to leave the road.
The rain roared louder as the armored SUV idled on the road.
Inside, Ethan exchanged a confused glance with the driver.
"What do we do?" he whispered.
"I— I don't know, sir. She isn't moving."
But before either man could make another suggestion, the door on Riley's side suddenly clicked.
Click!
Then swung open.
"Sir?!" Ethan exclaimed.
Riley stepped out.
Straight into the storm.
Rain hammered down on his shoulders instantly, drenching the dark fabric of his coat. His hair flattened against his forehead, water streaming down his face like melted memories.
He didn't look at Stephanie.
Not at first.
His gaze drifted past her, toward the battered pale-gold SUV parked off the road. The vehicle sagged slightly on one side, rust creeping around the edges, but the sight of it punched through him harder than any storm.
'Fifteen years' he thought.
'Fifteen years since I last saw this car…'
Ethan opened the opposite door, shouting, "Sir, the rain— Riley!"
But Riley didn't hear him.
His legs moved on their own, taking him through the mud and across the roadway. Stephanie watched him, confused, shivering violently as the cold gnawed at her skin.
But when she realized he wasn't ignoring her — he was heading toward the house behind her — her heart trembled with sudden, fragile hope.
'He… he's going to help?'
Riley brushed his hand along the SUV's side, feeling the chipped paint, the dent on the trunk — his dent. His jaw tightened, breath shaking.
"…Why here?" he muttered to himself.
Then
—a sound.
A muffled thump.
A choked cry.
Coming from the house ahead.
Riley's head snapped up.
Another crash followed.
Glass breaking.
Someone sobbing.
He didn't hesitate.
He broke into a sprint.
"Sir!" Ethan called, stumbling out of the SUV with his tablet still in hand.
"Boss, wait—!" the driver yelled, racing after them.
Stephanie flinched as Riley blew past her, but she managed a trembling whisper:
"H-help… it's my mom, they're— they're hurting her— please…"
But Riley was already charging toward the doorway.
He reached the porch in three strides, rain splashing beneath his steps. The door was half-splintered from being kicked earlier. Without a second thought, he grabbed the handle—
—and kicked the door all the way in.
The sound snapped through the storm like a crack of thunder.
Inside, chaos.
A man towering over Taylor, who lay limp on the floor, blood streaking his cheek. Another thug rifled through drawers, throwing belongings aside.
But the worst—
One of them had Stephanie's mother by the hair, dragging her up as she whimpered in pain.
Riley's expression changed instantly.
From confusion.
To recognition.
To ice-cold fury.
"You have three seconds," he said, voice dangerously calm despite the rain dripping from his chin.
"Step away from her."
The room froze.
Ethan and the driver skidded in behind him, both breathless, eyes widening at the scene.
Stephanie, still standing in the rain outside, stared into her own home — relief, exhaustion, and overwhelming fear crashing together until her knees nearly buckled.
'Someone came… someone actually came…'
The thugs turned toward Riley with snarls, unaware of the storm they'd just invited into the room.
The storm named Riley Styles.