Chapter 3

At eleven that night, I stood in the alley behind the Black Swan Casino.

I dug out a janitor's uniform stained with grease, pulled it on, and pushed an old cleaning cart inside.

From the far end of the hallway came pounding music and bursts of wild laughter.

I knew that was where the VIP room was.

I stopped the cart outside the door and looked through the crack.

The room was thick with smoke. Seven or eight rich kids in designer clothes lounged on the couches, with liquor bottles and lines of white powder spread across the table.

Luke Harrison sat in the center, a stack of playing cards in his hand.

A girl was kneeling in front of him.

Amy.

Her clothes had already been torn open. Her hair hung in tangles across her face, and there was blood at the corner of her mouth.

A bald enforcer had a fistful of her hair in one hand and a liquor bottle full of some unknown liquid in the other.

"Come on, sweetheart. Drink this, and it won't hurt so much."

Luke grinned and slipped a playing card down the front of Amy's dress. "Be a good girl and cooperate. Maybe I'll even let your grandpa off a little easier."

Amy clenched her jaw, but she didn't say a word—just like when her grandfather had been bullied at the docks, teeth gritted, silent through it all.

The bald enforcer pried her mouth open, ready to pour it down her throat.

My hand tightened around the cleaning cart handle until my knuckles turned white.

My heart hammered in my chest, and a voice in my head was screaming—

Kill them.

Kill every last one of these animals.

I took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

"S-sorry, gentlemen! We got a complaint that the toilet's backed up, and I need to clean the pipes in the VIP area..."

The music stopped.

Everyone turned to look at me, their faces full of disgust and impatience.

Luke narrowed his eyes. "Who the fuck are you?"

"I... I'm the... j-janitor..."

"Get the fuck out!"

The bald enforcer—Jerry—snapped it, his voice thick with irritation.

I stumbled, and the cleaning cart tipped over. A whole bucket of filthy water splashed straight onto Jerry.

Dirty mop water, toilet sludge, God knew what else—dumped over him from head to toe.

The room exploded in laughter.

"Holy shit! Jerry just got drenched in toilet water!"

"What a dumbass!"

Jerry froze for half a second, then let go of Amy and charged at me in a rage. "You wanna die, motherfucker?!"

He drove a kick into my chest. Pain flared through my ribs, and I went with it, crashing to the floor and knocking over several liquor bottles.

Luke got to his feet and walked over to me, his dress shoes crunching sharply over broken glass.

Then he crouched down and got a good look at my face.

"Well, well. Isn't this the limp mutt from the docks?"

He smiled, and the sight of it made my stomach twist again. "What, you followed the trash all the way here?"

My whole body was shaking. The rage I'd been forcing down churned inside me, so violent it felt like it might tear me apart.

"S-sorry... I didn't mean to..."

Luke pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his hands, then nudged a jagged shard of glass in front of me with the tip of his shoe.

"Lick it clean."

"Wh-what?"

"I said lick it clean."

Amy was still on her knees, staring at me in terror, tears sliding down her face.

She parted her lips like she wanted to say something, then bit down hard and stayed silent.

The rich kids around us started jeering.

"Do it!"

"Like a dog!"

"Come on, hurry up—we wanna see this!"

My trembling hand reached for the floor. My stomach heaved so hard I almost threw up.

But if I exposed myself now, Amy would die, Old Frank would die, and everyone connected to me would die.

The instant my fingers touched the broken glass—

Jerry pulled a gun.

"I don't wanna watch this piece of shit lick the floor!"

He raised the pistol, his eyes wild. "I'm just gonna blow his brains out!"

At that exact moment, the strobe lights cut out.

I'd finally gotten my chance.

I pinched a razor-sharp shard of glass between my fingers, and just as Jerry brought the gun down, I slashed the inside of his gun wrist—clean and precise, cutting the tendon.

"AAH! Fuck! Fuck!"

His fingers lost control instantly, and the gun slipped from his hand. I shoved his arm just enough to throw the muzzle toward the ceiling.

BANG!

The shot went off, and the bullet hit the massive crystal chandelier overhead.

CRASH—

The chandelier exploded, and the whole VIP room dropped into chaos—screaming, cursing, tables overturning, chairs crashing into each other.

Jerry collapsed, clutching his wrist and howling. "My hand! My hand's fucked!"

The lights came back on.

I was crouched there with both hands over my head, shaking all over.

The instant I saw the blood—that smell, that color—it dragged me right back to that night.

Goddamn it!

Why?

Why the fuck was I acting like useless trash now?

Luke, shielded behind two bodyguards, looked furious.

"What the fuck are you idiots standing there for?!"

He pointed at Amy, his voice thick with rage. "Tie that bitch up! Tomorrow, at my old man's tenth-anniversary celebration, I want her stripped naked and tied up onstage as the main attraction!"

Two thugs rushed over and dragged Amy up. She struggled, but they quickly forced her back down. Her eyes found mine, and they were full of terror and despair.

Luke walked over to me and planted a foot on my head. The sole of his dress shoe ground against my cheek, and blood ran down my face.

"You limp mutt, you're one lucky bastard."

He twisted his shoe harder and harder. "But if I ever see you again, I'll personally break your other leg."

Then he left the room with his men.

Once the shaking in my body finally stopped, I slowly pushed myself up. Several cuts had opened across my palms from the glass, and blood dripped onto the floor.

Ten years.

Not once in those ten years had I hated myself this much for not hitting hard enough...

I stared at the doorway, where traces still remained from where Amy had been dragged out.

The tenth-anniversary celebration.

Marcus Harrison's celebration for the tenth year since he betrayed me, killed me, and took my place.

This was how they'd been living all these years—arrogant, lawless, treating ordinary people like dirt!

A pack of goddamn animals!