Older. Desperate. Eyes wild.
The female enforcer glances at me, expression blank. “Miss James.”
“What is this?” I demand, voice sharp.
The male enforcer smiles faintly. “Business.”
“That’s a person,” I snap.
The man on his knees looks up at me like I’m an angel he doesn’t deserve.
“Please,” he rasps.
The female enforcer sighs, like I’m an inconvenience. “He owes.”
“Owes what?” I ask.
The male enforcer shrugs. “Credits. Favors. Time. Doesn’t matter.”
“It matters,” I say, stepping forward despite the way my skin prickles with danger. “You can’t just?—”
“Oh, we can,” the male enforcer replies, still smiling. “We do it all the time.”
The man flinches as the female enforcer crouches, gripping his jaw.
“Last chance,” she says calmly. “Where’s the money?”
He sobs. “I don’t have it. I don’t?—”
She backhands him with efficient force. His head snaps sideways.
I feel nausea rise.
“Stop,” I say, voice shaking now. “Stop! This is insane.”
The male enforcer’s smile widens. “Welcome to Gur.”
I turn, searching the corridor—guards at the far end watching, indifferent. No help.
Then Lonari’s voice cuts through the scene like a blade.
“That enough?”
He steps into the corridor from the shadowed intersection, taller than everyone, his presence instantly changing the air. He isn’t dressed like a prisoner now. He’s in black—tailored, fitted, expensive-looking without being flashy. The fabric moves with him like it knows its job. A heavy ring glints on one clawed finger, subtle but unmistakable in the way only real power can be.
His eyes sweep the enforcers.
They straighten instantly.
“Boss,” the male enforcer says, smile faltering.
Lonari’s gaze flicks to the man on the floor. “This one a predator or just stupid?”
The female enforcer hesitates. “Debt runner. Keeps skimming from the girls upstairs.”
The man whimpers. “That’s not?—”
Lonari lifts one hand, and the man’s words die.
