“Just let me go. I’m going to die from bleeding. I’ve lost too much blood. I can’t move,” Trey said. “Okay, I’m going to let you go. I’m going to stop your bleeding—if you tell me what you know. Tell me the truth,” Dane said. “Okay… okay… please, I’ll tell you everything,” Trey stammered. That night, Leo brought Ben here. Ben thought it was a bar. Ben was complaining, saying why isn’t it a bar Leo brought him to—why is it a casino? He didn’t want to gamble his money away. That was when Leo told me something…” Trey said. He hesitated to speak. Dane grabbed him. “Talk. Talk!” Dane was shaking him. “Talk! You want to die from bleeding? Talk!” “Leo told me… Ben was annoying him. He wanted—he was going to kill Ben. I hesitated. I didn’t like it. But he gave me money… and money is… one of my everything,” Trey said. Trey hesitated again. “Stop hesitating. Go straight to the point. Just talk,” Dane said. It was late, and no one was at the casino at that time. People usually were there

“Five seconds remaining to answer. you’re wasting time,” Butcher said. “Yes, yes, yes! I’m going to do it,” Trey cried out. “Just don’t kill my family. Please—don’t hurt my daughter. Or my wife, please.” “I won’t,” Butcher replied calmly. “Then promise me,” Trey said, his voice trembling. “Promise me you’ll take care of them after I die—if I take the blame for killing Ben.” “I will. I’m a man of my word,” Butcher said, then ended the call. Dane turned to Trey. “Okay. So now—are you going to take me to where Ben is?” “Yes,” Trey groaned. Dane helped him up again. “Let’s take the bike. We’ll ride there.” Trey could barely walk. He was limping heavily, groaning from the pain, and Dane had to support most of his weight. “There’s no need to take your bike,” Trey said suddenly. “I lied. He’s not in any forest.” Dane stopped. “What?” “He’s not far from here,” Trey said. “It’s just… Let’s move forward. He’s at my house. Not my main house—my other one. The one I stay at because it’s

A few moments later, Dane’s phone buzzed. It was a message from Butcher—just like always. No extra words, just the address and coordinates.He took a deep breath, then moved quickly. He lifted the sack containing Three’s body and tied it securely to his back. The stench was overwhelming—sickening—but he didn’t flinch. He knew that what awaited him in the next few hours would be far worse than any rotting smell.His life could very well be on the line.After grabbing his bag, Dane left for the address Butcher had sent. It was a low-key bar, tucked deep in the outskirts, where no one asked too many questions.But the second he arrived at the entrance, a problem flared up.A security guard stepped in his way. “What’s that on your back?” the guard demanded, eyes narrowing.Before Dane could respond, the guard reached out, grabbing the sack roughly.“Hey, let go,” Dane said, already tense.But the guard kept pushing, pulling at the sack, trying to open it. A few passersby turned to watch.

As Dane watched the owner finish without a word, he turned to leave. But before he could walk away, the owner folded his arms and leaned against the wall, his expression calm but serious.“Hey, man,” the owner said. “When you see Butcher, tell him I said hello.”Dane gave a small nod. “Yeah, I’ll probably do that,” he replied, then walked off.He made his way to where his bike was parked. As soon as he climbed on, he started riding toward Butcher’s place. But not long into the trip, something felt off. Up ahead, men were lined up across the street—too many, too still, too quiet.Dane’s instincts kicked in. He tried to turn his bike around, but before he could, all of them raised their guns and aimed straight at him.“Don’t move!” one of them shouted.Dane froze. Slowly, he got off the bike and raised both hands in the air. “What do you want?” he asked, his voice steady but alert.“The boss has a message for you,” one of the men said.Dane’s heart sank. He already knew what was coming—

“Okay, sir. I’m going to handle it,” Dane said. “And also, I want to let you know—when I leave, for the first 11 hours, I won’t be in touch. Not until I reach where my wife is. I’m not taking any phone with me because I’m sure Richard can track my location. If I take my phone to her, he’ll know where she is. So I’ll go without it. The journey to her place is long—it’s about a 10-hour ride. After that, I’ll get back in touch with you,”Butcher said.“At the party, it’s not just you and Jane going in. There’ll be other men stationed around the mansion. You—will have to figure out how to sneak weapons into the mansion yourselves. I’ll send you the location of the mansion. You need to find it and study it well.”“I’m sending you the location now. When I call you in the next 10 hours, that’s when you’ll make your move. A lot can happen in that time. That’s when they might attack. There are only 3 hours left before the 42-hour deadline is up. So after the war breaks out and things settle a