Chapter 1

Outside the New Restaurant

The day wickedness begins always starts like any other day. Bright, sunny, and full of promise. No one realizes that beneath its cheerful face lies a day they will one day wish had never begun.

Mateo stood outside his newest restaurant, checking everything one last time. He had staff for this. He had a whole team. But he never trusted anyone else to handle the final details before an opening. If something went wrong, he wanted to be the one who caught it.

He looked around and frowned. Wayne wasn't there yet.

He pulled out his phone and called him.

"Where are you?" Mateo said, the moment Wayne picked up. "This is not the day to be late."

"Relax," Wayne said. "Turn around."

Mateo turned. Wayne was standing right behind him, by the glass doors, grinning like he hadn't just made his best friend wait.

"Congratulations, man." Wayne threw his arms out. "Smile a little. This is supposed to be a good day."

"Where have you been?" Mateo asked, not smiling at all.

"I had things to take care of. It was for the party. I'll explain later, I promise."

Inside the Restaurant, Later That Evening

The event started at four and ran for three hours. Toward the end, Mateo took the microphone to say a few words. He thanked his parents for trusting him with the business so young. He thanked his staff for their hard work. Then he looked over at Wayne.

"And of course, my friend here," Mateo said, smiling. "If he didn't already run his own company, I'd have made him my director by now."

"No, thank you," Wayne called out from his seat, and the room burst out laughing.

Mateo had been running the company since he was twenty-one, right after finishing college. He'd studied through a distance-learning program so he'd have time to learn the business properly, working alongside his father the whole way through. In the seven years since he took over, he'd grown the company from four restaurants to eight, and had recently bought land outside the city to build a private retreat — somewhere quiet enough for politicians and business owners to disappear to when they needed to get away from everyone chasing them for something.

A few minutes later, Mateo cut the ribbon at the entrance. People clapped. Some came up to hug him and shake his hand.

Then he noticed Wayne wasn't in the room anymore.

Where does this guy keep disappearing to?

He excused himself from the small crowd around him and went looking.

Upstairs

Mateo's assistant, Nate, caught up with him near the stairs.

"Boss, I need to tell you something," Nate said, stepping into his path.

"Have you seen Wayne?"

"He's upstairs, but first, I really need to—"

"Tell me on the way." Mateo was already moving.

Nate followed him up, still trying to get a word in, but Mateo wasn't listening. He was too annoyed that Wayne had vanished during one of the biggest nights of his life.

At the top of the stairs, Mateo stopped.

"What—"

He turned back to Nate, who just looked at him, helpless, like there was nothing left to explain.