CastleBy morning, the compound reeked of piss, sweat, and blood.The sun hadn’t even risen yet when I got out of bed. Tomas met me at the bottom of the stairs, armed with a gun and blood drying on the cuff of his shirt.“They’re not coming clean,” he said, walking beside me through the hallway. “Two of them are playing mute, one is crying for his mother, and Derek, he’s just… staring.”Of course he was. The ex-mercenary had that kind of patience and tolerance: the kind you either beat out of a man or bury together with him. “Start with the bookie,” I said, and he turned left, directing me to his location.The room Reno was in had no windows. Only a single flickering bulb that buzzed incessantly. He was tied to a steel chair, shirtless, bruised from jaw to ribs, and his mouth already painted in shades of red and purple.He looked up with glassy eyes when I entered, breathing in short, frantic bursts like a rabbit caught in a trap.“Don—Don, please,” he stammered, teeth clicking as he
Last Updated : 2025-06-04 Read more