The Red Lotus Lounge (15)

Carl's heart felt like it had been ripped apart as he watched his son, Anderson, lay on the ground.

He couldn't believe what he had just witnessed and couldn't accept that his son, his pride and joy, was gone forever. Anger and sorrow mixed in his chest like a boiling cauldron, each emotion fueling the other.

He had raised Anderson since birth, held him when he was just a little bundle and had watched him grow up and become a strong and capable young man. Now, just like that, he was gone, his future ripped apart. Carl felt like he was in a nightmare he couldn't wake up from.

Carl couldn't help but think of all the things he would never get to do with Anderson—all the conversations they would never have and the memories they would never create. The thought was unbearable.

His pain was indescribable, his heart aching with deep, all-consuming grief that threatened to swallow him whole. He had lost everything that mattered to him at that moment, all because of a single man.