Chapter 1 - Wyatt
I’ve envisioned this drive a thousand times before. I’ve considered every turn, every move, and every outcome, down to the minute. I imagined the sirens in the distance, a gloomy Nevada backdrop, and pure anger pushing me forward, blinding me.
But tonight, the world around me is almost eerily calm. So am I.
The road ahead stretches on, but little by little, I close that final distance standing between me and Vito Caputo’s hideout.
Years of planning. Years of lingering in the dark while pretending to be dead. Years of living as someone entirely different.
With a deep exhale, I roll my shoulders and lean back against the leather seat. Anticipation burns under my skin, familiar in the way it flares up again. This moment is something I’ve been carrying in my chest since the day I disappeared, just waiting for the chance to seize it.
Vito won’t be expecting me…not while he thinks I’ve been rotting in the ground all this time.
Ever since he made those false claims about me, he has assumed his victory. He thinks Wyatt Michaels is dead and that I’ll never be a problem again.
But I didn’t die. I adopted a new name. I built something stronger.
The steering wheel creaks as I grip it tighter, and the farther I get, the more those memories start to scrape against the back of my mind.
I was twenty-five when I first started out. I kept it small at first, keeping it to modest legwork. But I was good at keeping my mouth shut and doing what I was told, so I jumped in the Balakin ranks fast, and with Lily in my care, I let myself be more ambitious than necessary.
Unfortunately, where there’s success, the vultures aren’t far away, and Vito was exactly that.
He’s a greedy prick through and through, and as an opportunist, he saw the perfect payday ahead of him. He spun a couple of well-placed lies to the higher-ups, framing me for skimming a bit off the top each time I did a drug run. Those whispers did exactly as intended, and in exchange, Vito got his money for letting it slip.
I wasn’t an idiot, and I sure as hell didn’t have a death wish. I didn’t steal a damn thing.
Yet, it was enough to cause suspicion and paranoia, and the target on my back was instantaneous.
If it had only been me in the equation, I might’ve fought through it and forced the truth out. I would’ve carved up Vito’s chest at the same time just to prove it. But Lily…my sweet sister, and far too smart for her own good…she was caught up in that orbit just from my associations.
The threat had been loud and clear. I was to be taken out, and any loose ends were to be tied up. She was a significant one.
So I did what had to be done.
I let the world think I was dead. All of them. The Balakins, Vito, and even Lily.
With rumours of escalating gang violence floating around Vegas, it put enough heat on both the Balakins and the Lukovsfor them to back off, and Lily could carry on with her life as intended.
I ached and ached at the thought of leaving her alone. After Mom and Dad died, I was all she had. I was the one she depended on during the worst years of my life. After losing everything I had right when I became her guardian, I had to turn to the streets just to make ends meet. Even then, I failed her despite how quickly that success had flooded in, only to be ripped away again.
I went from stockbroker to straight-up broke, then from drug runner to a respected part of the Balakin empire, only to fall even harder.
I intended to disappear for good to start over somewhere else, but that plan crumbled the moment I caught wind of what the Lukovs had done. They took her. Swept her up and have held onto her ever since.
She was supposed to be free to live her life away from all of this bullshit, but they squandered any chance of that. She’s as close to the enemy as possible, and that thought has haunted me ever since.
As much as it hurt to turn away from her, I had no choice. I had to pivot and regroup, doing as much research and digging as physically possible.
I couldn’t save her by staying visible, so I became a ghost instead.
Building my own empire in the shadows hasn’t been easy, but I had skills and connections from before, and I used them to my advantage.
Every dollar I’ve earned since then has gone towards my mission. All the work I’ve put in day by day has led to a singular goal.
Find Lily and get her out.
But before I can, I have to end Vito, and for the first time in years, it’s finally within reach.
