Logan says nothing.
The man tries to breathe around the blood in his mouth. “I don’t know why her. We don’t ask. We never ask. You ask, you don’t get called again. Sometimes it’s debt. Sometimes it’s men wanting women back. Sometimes it’s buyers with specifics. We don’t know which. We get a job and we do it.”
“You drug them all?”
“Usually.” The word usually turns the air black.
Blaze’s mouth curls. “Usually. He says usually like he’s talking about a fucking lunch order.”
The man looks toward him, desperate. “It’s business.”
Cain moves so fast the man doesn’t see it coming. His fist lands heavy against the side of the man’s face. The chair rattles. Blood spatters the concrete.
“Business?” Cain says, voice low enough to be more dangerous than yelling. “You grab women off streets and call it business?”
The man coughs, groaning.
Logan lets it happen.
So do I.
Cain steps back after one hit because Cain still has control and a family upstairs that reminds him what happens when violence spills too far.
I don’t have that kind of anchor. Not yet. Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe Olivia is becoming one. I shove that thought down where it belongs.
“What happens after delivery?” Shadow asks.
The man shakes his head. “I don’t know.”
Hammer’s hand tightens.
“I don’t,” he insists. “We drop and leave.”
“Who verifies?”
“Different crews. Handlers. I don’t fucking know what they call themselves.”
“Names,” Logan says.
The man hesitates.
Wrong.
Hammer drives his fist into his ribs again, same spot as before. This time something gives. Not fully broken maybe, but close enough that the sound changes. The man screams.
Joker closes his eyes for half a second like he’s savoring the sound.
Blaze sees it and mutters, “See, that’s why no one invites you to normal hobbies.”
Joker opens his eyes and looks at him.
Blaze points at the man. “Focus, psycho.”
Joker’s mouth curves slightly.
The man sobs once, humiliated by it, and that does more than the pain. Pride cracks before bone sometimes. “Denton,” he gasps. “A guy named Denton handled one drop. I don’t know if it’s his real name.”
“Last name?” Logan asks.
