PROLOGUE
18 years ago…
“These three,” Audiemar Blackmoor quietly expressed, footsteps heavy when he stepped into the common room of Haven House.
Squatting on the edge of Ree Heights, Kansas, with cracked brick and barred windows, it wasn’t to keep children in but to keep the rough entities of the city out. Inside, boys learned how to disappear, harden, and eventually wait. Some biding their time until they aged out, and others were looking for ways to escape or hoping to be adopted one day. Audiemar had a deeper understanding of their situations than any of them knew. For him, it didn’t seem to be that long ago that he knew their struggles firsthand. Not belonging. Not having anyone to depend on but yourself. It was a life he wished on no one.
That night, he didn’t arrive with social workers or paperwork like most people. He entered alone, shaking the rain off his trench coat, his presence forceful enough to shift the air when he strolled through the front doors. Bleach and vegetable oil aromas lingered when he inhaled, and his feet landed against the cracked tile of the entryway. The staff allrecognized him instantly. Everyone in the city knew who he was, like he was the mayor. Nobody asked why he was there or tried to stop him. Only the director, Beverly Bellamy, and her husband, Iggy, addressed him when he made his request. From different corners of the building, three boys were pulled and brought to wait for him. Although in age they were all children, something about them called out to Audiemar on paper.
Beverly swallowed. “They’ve had… trouble.”
Nodding, he studied each of the faces in front of him. “So have I.”
She didn’t argue. She knew that better than most. Beverly and Audiemar’s history was long. Both born and raised in Ree Heights, they attended the same schools coming up and often crossed paths. None of the boys spoke when he skimmed their brown faces. Kong was the oldest, standing instinctively in front of the other two. Shoulders squared, jaw set, he’d already learned to protect by force and absorb blows meant for others. He’d been here long enough to understand that adults were temporary, but power wasn’t.
Mozzi sat on the arm of the couch. Silent. Eyes sharp, cataloguing everything. He watched Audiemar the way a lock watches a key. Alert. Suspicious. Already testing for weaknesses. He was small for his age but coiled tight, like a wire pulled too far. Moose lounged badly, legs stretched out, trying to look unimpressed. He cracked a grin when Audiemar’s gaze landed on him, a reflex born of survival. Charm was the only shield he ever had. Audiemar studied them. Not with kindness, but assessment. Circling them slowly, boots heavy against the tile.
“You know who I am?”
Each of them did. Even in Haven House, the name Blackmoor carried weight. If you weren’t down with them, you were a target. People spoke of them in whispers and warnings.Rumors spread like wildfire about who he was and how he operated. Some stories were retold so much that most people were convinced half of it was true.
“I don’t collect charity cases,” he continued. “I collect potential. Boys who don’t belong here become men who belong to me.”
Kong didn’t flinch. “What do you want?”
Audiemar smiled at that, not warmly, but approvingly. Each of these boys reminded him of a piece of himself.
“Loyalty. Obedience. Growth,” he listed.
Tilting his head, Mozzi challenged him. “And if we say no?”
Audiemar stopped in front of them, kneeling so they were eye level.
“Then you stay here,” he told them. “And Ree Heights finishes what it started.”
Silence stretched through the room as all three boys looked at each other. Only a few months together, and already, they were bonded like brothers. Now, if you fucked with one of them, you dealt with all three. It became very apparent when Kong caught some bigger kids bullying Mozzi. Moose had also been jumped, so examples had to be set.
Audiemar straightened up. He’d read the files. These boys were survivors, and he admired them more than any of them knew.
“And if we say yes?” Moose broke the silence.
“Then you eat. You’re educated. You’re protected.” His eyes hardened. “And one day, you repay me.”
That was it. Later that night, Mozzi, Moose, and Kong left with Audiemar. No bags and no goodbyes to anyone except Bee when she let them out the door. When it came to the choice of living in a group home and never knowing if they would be accepted anywhere or becoming soldiers in Audiemar’s army, it was easy.
The car ride was quiet as the city slid past the windows, familiar streets already becoming something else. Audiemar sat in the front seat, distant, already shaping them into tools. When they reached his house, they all took it in. Two stories, a two-car garage, and a big iron fence surrounding it. The rules were laid down without ceremony. No lies to Audiemar. No betrayal of the family. No weakness displayed without purpose. Their names were kept, but their futures were rewritten.
Kong was molded into structure and leadership. Taught that responsibility is power and silence is strength. Mozzi was given knowledge, codes, systems, and surveillance. He learned how to disappear digitally and how to watch without being seen. Moose was sharpened socially. He was trained to read people, manipulate rooms, and turn his charm into leverage.
Although not brothers by blood, a mutual bond binds them. From that night forward, they were no longer fostered. Instead, they were claimed, and the city will one day learn what happens when broken boys are raised by a man who knows exactly how to use them.
CHAPTER ONE
DOWN BOTTOM
Present Day…
“Loop’s live,” Mozzi spoke softly into his mic. “You’ve got eight minutes before the building remembers itself.”
