Chapter 4- my little prey

GIDEON VALE

The bar breath beneath my feet.

Even with the reinforced glass and steel, I could still hear the steady hum of the noise below, like a distant pulse.

Files laid across my table in neat opened stacks.

Territory agreements, land deeds, debt summaries, interest accurals, property transfers.

Names that meant nothing apart from the numbers attached to them. Lives reduced to paper and ink.

That was the deal. You signed. You owed.

Paper did lie.

People did.

I preferred paper.

I flipped a document open. Scanned it once, then twice. Brick invents were late on their loan payments again. This was their fifth time this year.

I knew the pattern. Seen it a million times.

They'd come crawling, begging for loans, sign papers, religiously pay back for the first few months, then manufacture an attitude when their businesses don't need financial aid anymore.

Getting them to pay was the fun part.

I call it the chase.

Watching them delude themselves into thinking they've escaped their debt, then coming in our numbers to take what we were owed.

The look on their faces when they'd realized who they owed. The devil.

The door opened.

I didn't look up. Only one person dared to barged into my office without knocking. "If this is another request for leniency, the answer is no."

"Good thing it's not." Ashton said "I'd hate to watch you disappoint another person."

I exhaled through my nose.

"Would you ever knock before entering my office?"

"It all depends on you." He replied strolling in like he owned the place. "Would you ever thank me for being the only person that can tolerate your demonic self? No? Well there's your answer"

"You're a bother"

Ashton laughed. He plopped himself on the chair opposite me, placing his booted foot on my desk.

I pushed it off without looking up.

Ashton Kutcher was nature's thorn in my flesh. A leech that I'd tried and given up on uprooting.

We'd grown up together in the same shelter and where the only kids who didn't get adopted for different reasons, he was psychotic, I was plain evil.

He'd claimed I was the most entertaining thing he'd seen and followed me, his sole mission, to file me up.

"You live to kill Joy." He said.

"You live" I responded bored "to test how long you're allowed to"

He smiled, wrinkling the tattoo on his forehead.

He knew the lines, he heard it a million times.

He was the only one who didn't fear my words.

The only person I'd threatened to kill and didn't go through with it.

My second in command. My eyes, My nose, My ears and My mouth. My weapon.

"What's the report?" I asked.

He sobered instantly. It was thrilling to see how quickly his smile faded and his shoulders squared.

I loved that about Ash. He knew when to switch from my annoying brother to my second in command.

"Alright, here's where we stand in the last week"

He took a deliberate breath.

"Loan side is stable. Three new short-term accounts this week. Two small business owners, one construction guy. Cash advances, high interest, clean contracts. They’re paying on time. Nervous, but compliant. No missed dates.”

He glanced up, eyes sharp now.

“Two late payments in the central district. Not alarming yet. We sent reminders, nothing physical. Just calls. And also, we're still waiting on your green light to pay those debtors a visit.”

"Let's wait a few days, it makes the visit fun" I answered.

He smiled in agreement.

I urged him to go on.

“Territory’s holding. We pushed fangs off the east strip like you ordered. They were sniffing around our bars, trying to muscle into collections. We made it clear that side of town isn’t up for negotiation.”

He smirked faintly. “No blood, sadly. Just our presence. Bikes parked where they’d see them.”

He took another breath.

“The bars are clean, the cash flow’s good. No heat from the cops in the last week"

“Protection rackets are minimal. Only businesses that asked for it. Also, Couple of kids got too loud last weekend. Revving engines near our clubs. I checked them. Won’t happen again.”

He made a dramatic show of thinking.

"That's all. That's the report Boss"

I'd die before telling him that I applauded his attention to details.

"Right. That's good. Put an eye on the kids, let me know where they're from."

"Yes Boss"

"Alright. You are dismissed" I waved my hand.

"I was never summoned" Ash responded, a sky smirk on his face.

Well, psychoAsh is back.

"I'm too busy for your clinginess Kutcher. Go find someone else" I flipped the pages of the document on my table.

"No one wants to play with me. They all think I'm a big black wolf" he said mimicking the voice of a child.

"You can play with yourself Kutcher. I'm busy"

"Would you like to watch? Watch me play with myself Gideon" he said, innuendo dripping from his words.

"Get the fuck out of here psycho!" I snarled. This man stretched my patience thin everytime.

He laughed hysterically. I could swear he got off from riling me up.

"You should see your face, you look so red!" He paused. Something passed across his features, straightening his face.

"Yesterday, Something walked in that didn't belong."

"Go on"

"A girl. dressed like she made a wrong turn from an  underpaid secretary job

I said nothing.

"She came alone. During the night shift"

"To the den or the clubs?" I asked for clarification.

"The den. Didn't hesitate at the door" hus mouth twitched. "Didn't even look scared"

My fingers stilled

"She shouldn't have been let in" I queried.

"She wasn't a visible threat." He defended, "Just looked lost. I didn't want the boys making an unnecessary scene."

"Why's this girl important?"

"Her name's Matilda Monroe" he said "From the Monroe debt. The man who died."

Recognition dawned on me.

"His daughter?"

"One and only"

"What did she want? Leniency?" I was used to these requests.

"No. She wants to negotiate."

A short humorless laugh escaped me.

She was delusional.

"Debt doesn't negotiate"

"I know that. You know that. She doesn't."

"Did she shake?" I asked.

"No"

"Did her voice crack?"

"No. rather, she spoke with boldness"

That intrigued and annoyed me at the same time.

"Sometimes, boldness is stupidity behind a mask"

"Or" Ashton retorted "boldness is just boldness"

"Boldness without power" I said slowly "is careless stupidity"

Silence stretched between us.

He met my gaze without flinching. He always did.

"She told me to pass on a message" he continued "said the girl whose house you took is hard to ignore."

She was daring. I'd give her that.

I stood up and walked to the glass windows overlooking the dark city.

People spend their whole lives trying to evade debt. This one walked straight into it and demanded to be seen.

She had guts.

"She came to the den,” I said. “That means she thinks she can win.”

Ashton’s mouth curved. “You don’t like that.”

“I don’t like variables.”

“What are you going to do.”

I met his eyes.

“I’ll deal with her myself.”

Ash rose from the chair, stretching. "I thought you'd say that. You've always dealt with your variables solo"

“She’s not to be touched,” I added. “Not intimidated. Not followed.”

"Okay. Feeling merciful?"

"Don't want the prey feeling threatened already, it lessens the fun"

He nodded, understanding settling in. "I'll spread the word across"

"Good"

He moved to the door, then paused.

"For what is worth," he said, glancing back "your prey is as pretty as she is fiery. You'll have a lot of fun with her" a dangerous smile sat on his face.

I didn't respond.

After he left, I searched for the Monroe file.

Caleb Monroe’s name stared back from the page like it was daring me to feel something. Ten thousand dollars. No coercion. No discrepancies. His signature repeated three times, clean and confident.

No fault on our end. There never was.

I closed the file.

This Matilda Monroe was just a whiny child who thinks she was stolen from.

Who confused grief for leverage.

But I couldn't shake off the voice in my head.

prey didn’t walk into the lion’s den unless it believed one thing.

That it wasn’t prey at all.

Something slow and dangerous coiled in my chest.

If Matilda Monroe thought she could walk into my world and demand my attention…

I would give it to her.

Fully.

And she would learn exactly what it cost to be seen by me.