A sound I don’t register until it’s too late.
He collapses.
Music cuts. Screams erupt.
I’m moving before I think, dropping to my knees beside him as blood spreads beneath my hands. The club dissolves into chaos, people running, shouting, more shots echoing through the space.
I don’t move.
“Stay with me,” I say, pressing down, my voice steady despite the terror clawing at my chest. “Focus on my voice. Breathe. Stay with me.”
His eyes stay on mine as the world burns around us.
Chapter Two
Khai
Two Hours Earlier
“I need to blow off some steam,” I say, wiping down the barrel of my gun to remove the last traces of residue.
It’s been a long fucking day. Jaxon and I have just finished carrying out a job for my father. I light a cigarette and inhale deeply, rolling my shoulders and tilting my head from side to side as I take in the carnage around us. Three men lie motionless on the tarp, their bodies so badly damaged they’re barely recognisable.
“Oy, Khai!” Jaxon calls. “Cleanup crew’s on the way.”
He grins as he wipes blood from his face. Jaxon enjoys getting up close, enjoys the mess. There’s something unhinged about him, but no one extracts information like he does. Probably why my father treats him like the son he never had.
Me? I’m the one they send in when someone needs to disappear.
I toss the rag onto the tarp and tuck my gun behind my back. The smoke settles into my lungs, easing the edge just enough.
“Let’s get out of here,” I mutter. “I need a drink. And a distraction.”
Jaxon laughs, already heading for the exit of the abandoned warehouse. “I know just the place.”
The cool October air hits me the moment we step outside. I pause, breathing it in, letting the night settle my nerves, the aftershock of violence still humming beneath my skin.
I don’t enjoy this work. But my father’s word is law.
He runs the city. Not officially, but everyone who matters answers to him. Politics, real estate, finance, his hands are everywhere. Dirty, invisible, inescapable.
I’m his weapon.
I used to have a twin. Nine years ago, he overdosed, mixed too much, too fast. He couldn’t handle the weight of our father’s world. Ever since, I’ve been shipped off to job after job. My father says it’s good for business.
I think he just can’t look at me without seeing my brother.
“Earth to Khai!” Jaxon shouts from across the car park. “You stand there any longer and your dick will forget how to function.”
I snort and head for the bike.
The ride into the city is fast, reckless. We break every road rule there is, but the rush clears my head.
We make a quick stop at my place first, just long enough to shower and change before going out again. Before the night really begins. Jaxon has a stash of clothes and essentials at mine for nights like this or when he crashes here after he got blind drunk.
By the time we pull into the nightclub car park, the bass is already pounding through the walls. Lights wash the brick exterior in colour. A line of people stretches around the corner, waiting.
We don’t stop.
