Chapter 2

Leo was a snake, but he was a survivor.

He realized instantly that his only shot at staying alive was doing whatever I told him to do.

"Wh—what do you want me to do?"

I stood up, my face completely expressionless.

"Let's start with my dear brother. He wants to see the world, doesn't he? I'm going to give him a first-class ticket straight to hell."

I needed leverage. Something that would shatter him from the inside out.

"How much do you actually know about him?" I asked Leo.

Leo's eyes darted around, calculating his odds.

I didn't bother arguing. I picked up a rusted steel pipe leaning against the workbench and lightly tapped it against his already broken shin.

He let out a strangled gasp, pain draining every drop of color from his face, and spilled his guts instantly.

"Kevin! Your brother owes a fortune in illegal gambling!"

Leo stammered, teeth chattering through the agony. "He took out loans behind your parents' backs from Kane over in the West End. Easily three or four hundred grand by now!"

"Kane?"

"Yeah! He runs the underground loan-sharking racket in this city! Everyone knows if you default on Kane, you're leaving in an ambulance without your fingers!"

A cold smile crept onto my face.

God really was on my side tonight.

My lazy, entitled brother was an irredeemable degenerate after all.

"Give me Kane's number."

Leo didn't dare hesitate. Trembling, he rattled off a ten-digit number.

I'd bought two cheap burner phones. A neighbor I'd paid to keep an eye on my family texted one of them: Kevin had taken his friends to Velvet Club to keep the party going. I used the other phone to text Kane.

[Kane, your boy Kevin just cashed in a million-dollar life insurance policy. Right now, he's throwing a massive VIP party in the top-floor lounge at Velvet Club, bragging about flying overseas tomorrow morning.]

No signature. No extra fluff.

As soon as the message went through, I threw the phone into a storm drain outside the abandoned auto shop and kept the other one.

Next, I hailed a cheap ride and had them drop me off across the street from Velvet Club.

I stayed in the shadows of an alley, blending into the dark, and waited patiently.

Around ten o'clock, several tinted black SUVs tore down the boulevard, screeching to a halt right in front of the club's VIP entrance.

The doors flew open, and over a dozen burly enforcers clutching metal bats and crowbars spilled out. Leading them was a muscular man with a clean-shaven head and a heavy gold chain gleaming under the streetlights.

That was Kane.

They barged past the velvet ropes with terrifying momentum. The bouncers took one look at Kane's face and stepped aside, hands raised in surrender.

I could already picture the scene inside the VIP lounge.

My dear brother Kevin, surrounded by his sycophantic friends, downing shots of Patrón, basking in the glow of his newfound wealth and bragging about his glorious future.

He probably thought tonight was the peak of his entire miserable existence.

Too bad his luck just ran out.

And soon, his life might, too.