“My parents said no. Said I deserved a choice in my future.” Cleo’s voice cracks, but she forces herself to keep steady. “They said this was too far….”
“But the man laughed. He said I needed them. If they didn’t protect me, the other family I hacked the year before would find out. And then…” She doesn’t finish the sentence. She doesn’t have to.
No one breathes.
“So now I’m here,” Cleo says finally, her voice small. “Training. Waiting. And when I graduate, I won’t get a choice. I’ll be theirs. There wasn’t another option. My entire future… it’s already decided. Violence. Blood. It’s all that’s waiting for me. All I have is my family and their safety.”
The silence in the room is thick, suffocating. I reach for her hand without thinking, gripping it tight.
“Not if we can help it,” I say, my voice firm even though my insides are shaking. “You’re not alone in this. You have us. And we’ll figure out a way to make sure that future doesn’t happen. If you believe you can help me avoid my tragic destiny, surely, we can all help figure something out for you.”
Around us, the others nod—one by one, quiet but certain.
Even after everyone leaves, I still can’t shake the conversation. It sits in my chest like a stone, pressing harder with every breath. I’ve always heard about the mafia of Gluttony, whispered stories of corruptionbleeding across the continent, but those tales felt distant—like tales from a storybook of places I would never see.
Now, with Cleo… it’s real. It’s ugly. And it’s so much closer than I ever wanted it to be.
My mind keeps circling Maddox. Maddox—the son of the Gluttony leader, one of the most notorious mafia bosses. My partner in class. The boy I’ve been tutoring week after week as if he were nothing more than a struggling student who needed my help. I let myself ignore what he really was. Maybe I didn’t want to see it. But now I can’t unsee it.
The memory crashes back—Cleo’s face on the first day of class, pale and terrified the moment I got partnered with him. I thought it was nerves, his reputation, maybe intimidation.
But no… it was fear. Real, bone-deep fear.
Fear I should have paid attention to. Fear that makes sense now. What has she seen from him? What has she lived through? Is he part of the Gang that is now forcing her servitude? Or maybe he is the leader of the gang whose files she hacked into, and he’d have no qualms hacking into her.
And what does that say about me, sitting beside him, laughing at his quiet little smirks, treating him like he’s safe?
Shivering, clutching my blankets tighter. I don’t know Maddox at all. I never did. He’s dangerous. Even Atticus knew that, and he’s an idiot. He’s part of this world that’s crushed people like Cleo, that feeds on fear and power and control. How could I have been so blind?
My stomach twists. I feel sick, cornered, like I’ve been walking a cliff’s edge without realizing the drop beneath me. He could destroyme if he wanted to. And here I’ve been giving him my time, my trust—letting him into my orbit as though he’s harmless.
No more.The tutoring ends. Potion or no potion, I don’t care. It’s not worth the risk. Not worth the fear.
Even as I make that promise to myself, I can’t escape the dread crawling up my spine. Because walking away from Maddox isn’t just an end. It’s a risk in itself. And I don’t know if I’m ready for what happens when you tell someone like him no.
17
Thou Shalt Not Drag Monsters Into Morning Light
Maddox
Ihear her. My mother’s voice, raw and breaking. It tears itself out of her throat as if the sound alone could stop them. “You can’t take him! He’s mine. That’s my son!” The words claw at me, desperate, unstoppable. “MADDOX!!”
I twist in the arms carrying me, kicking, but it’s useless. I’m just a boy, small, powerless, being dragged down the dim hallway of that crumbling apartment. A crash inside the apartment causes me to jump. Her sobbing echoes in my head. Why is she crying? It gets loud—louder, louder—until it swallows everything.
I jerk awake, breath ripping out of my chest.
For a second, I’m still there. That hallway. Her voice. My name caught in her sobs.
I curse under my breath and rub my face. It’s been years, but the damn dream keeps coming back, like a ghost with claws. It shouldn’t. I’m Maddox West. One of the most powerful men in Gluttony. I’ve broken enemies with my bare hands and brought men to their knees with a look. I am not a boy being carried away.
Throwing off the sheets, I drop to the floor, my fists pressing into the wood. Push-ups. Hard and fast. One after another until the burnswallows the memory. My muscles stretch, coil, ignite with the discipline that ensures my body can back any of my words.
The room is silent, the way I like it. Everyone else has to share—bodies crammed together in SinVail’s barracks they call dorms—but not me. No one dares question why I’ve got a space of my own. Rank. Fear. A reputation soaked into the walls. That’s enough to qualify me for privacy.
Until—chirp.
My phone lights up. I freeze mid-push-up, scowling at the interruption. Everyone knows not to bother me this early. Nobody in my ranks would interrupt my routine.
