He stood six-three, two-twenty, with the quiet stillness of a man who had learned that violence, when done right, looked like patience. His suits were dark, his gaze darker. Behind his sunglasses, nothing escaped: the twitch of a stranger’s hand, the weight of a bag, the angle of a parked car.
Afterward, he’d light a cigarette with steady hands, roll down his sleeves, and disappear into the city.
When the threat came — and it always did — Rocco didn’t flinch. He moved like a closing door: fast, final, without sound.
The client — a singer, a senator, a shadow — never saw him coming. That was the point. Rocco was already there. In the elevator before they entered. In the stairwell before the alarm. In the alley before the trouble breathed.