Chapter 2

The whole slaughterhouse went dead silent.

Isaac froze for a moment. He couldn't believe the same "broke little punk" from five years ago would dare speak to him that way.

The thugs who had been about to move stopped short. Something about me unsettled them.

"You really can't drop the act, can you? A kept man who slept his way to the top, playing savior?

"What are you going to use against me? Your connections? Your backers? You're a nobody mouthing off in front of me."

Isaac strode forward and, before anyone could react, snatched the lighter out of Marcella's arms.

Isaac held it between two fingers and studied it as if it were some rare treasure.

He saw the two names scratched crookedly into it with the tip of a knife. Gian & Marcella.

"Give it back!"

Marcella lunged like a madwoman, and two thugs pinned her to the floor.

Isaac hooked a finger under her chin and forced her to look at him.

His gaze crawled over her face, down her neck, and over the rise of her chest. He didn't even try to hide it.

"Marcella, you're a beautiful woman. How can you love that trash you picked up from a garbage heap?" His voice was low and oily, his breath against her ear.

"You reek of poverty. It's disgusting. But that's all right. Once I've taken you home and had my fun, you'll smell like me instead."

He leaned closer, almost touching her lips, and whispered so only the two of them could hear, "I'll show you what kind of 'treasure' a real man can give you." He laughed.

Laughter went around the room.

Marcella was shaking, her eyes red, but all she could manage was a helpless whimper.

My knuckles had gone white and my nails dug into my palms, but my face showed nothing.

Isaac was enjoying my "helpless rage."

He straightened and waved the lighter at me with a contemptuous smile. "See that, beggar? Your woman and this piece of junk you gave her aren't worth a cent to me."

He opened his hand and let the lighter clatter to the floor.

Then he lifted his gleaming custom shoe and ground the lighter into the blood and filth on the floor in front of everyone.

"Trash belongs with trash." He lifted his foot, looked at the mangled scrap of metal pressed into the mud, and scoffed. "Just like you."

Marcella cried out in despair, tore free, and dropped to her knees, reaching for the lighter. But her hands shook so badly she couldn't grasp it.

I walked over and helped her up.

She looked up at me, her eyes full of pain and despair.

"I'm sorry, Gian. I couldn't... protect it."

I shook my head and straightened up.

I looked calmly at Isaac's face.

"You made her cry, and then you stepped on it." My voice was flat, as if I were stating a fact. "So by dawn, the Leoni name will cease to exist."

Isaac blinked, then burst into wild laughter.

"You want to settle accounts with the Leoni family? See if you can make it out of here alive first!"

I ignored him and turned to Marcella.

"Marcella, tell me. How was the Franco family set up?"

Marcella hesitated, then shook her head bleakly.

"Gian, you have no idea how deep the corruption in Blackhaven goes.

"This wasn't a simple turf war. The Leoni family used every dirty trick they could to make sure the Franco family would never recover.

"What the Franco family owes isn't money. It's a blood debt. It's a hole thirty million dollars couldn't fill.

"You were gone five years without a trace. I don't blame you... but what can you possibly do?"

Isaac took a document from one of his thugs and slapped it against my face.

"Hear that, beggar? This is what the Franco family owes the Leoni family. Principal and interest: thirty million.

"Today is the deadline.

"If it isn't paid, every last Franco relative will be fish food, and Marcella Franco will spend the rest of her life as my plaything.

"If you're so capable, pay it for her.

"Can't? Then shut your filthy mouth and crawl out of here!"

Marcella caught my wrist, her voice full of grief.

"Gian, forget about me. Just go..."

I glanced down at the so-called "debt agreement."

Thirty million. Five years ago, that number would have been unthinkable to me.

But now...

I lifted the paper away from my face, patted Marcella's shoulder, and smiled.

"Thirty million. That's all.

"No problem. I'll pay the Franco family's debt."