Marco did not wait for permission.He reached across the table, grabbed Derek Morrison by the collar of his Italian suit, and drove his fist into Derek's face with everything he had. Derek's feet left the ground.His body sailed backward and crashed through the glass coffee table, which exploded underneath him in a shower of crystal shards and spilled bourbon.Before Derek's brain could even register what was happening, Marco was on top of him, swinging again. And again. And again.The rest of Tony's crew joined in. Not because Tony ordered it. Because every single man in that lounge understood the math with perfect clarity.If this request had been carried out, if they had kidnapped the same girl Ethan Morrison just fought forty men to save, every person involved would be dead before the sun came up.This was not cruelty. This was survival.Derek had no idea what he had done wrong.All he knew was that the men he had tried to hire were using his face as a speed bag, and the only reas

Trevor's smile did not waver, but something behind his eyes hardened. He turned to Ethan. "Kneel. Apologize to Ashley for what you did. And let the lady make her own choices without some coreless reject breathing down her neck.""Let the lady make her own choices," the Spirit repeated. "He said that with a straight face. Remarkable."Ashley swallowed her jealousy with visible effort and turned to Lily with a voice dripping with false sweetness. "Lily, honey, just go with him. It would be better for everyone. Trevor is a good guy. He comes from a good family. You don't want to make this harder than it needs to be, do you?"Lily's hands were shaking. Not from the drug this time. From anger.The four security guards stepped forward in a line. Trevor snapped his fingers without looking at them, the gesture of a man who was used to other people doing the physical part.Ethan dropped all four in under ten seconds. Two open palms, a knee, and an elbow. The guards hit the floor in a rolling p

"So you're telling me that Eleanor Hartwell, the mayor's wife, one of the most powerful women in Crestwood City, personally handed you a gold Chamber of Commerce card. You. A man whose own family doesn't want him. A coreless, bloodline less nobody who married a woman in a coma because no one else would take him." Trevor's lip curled so high it nearly touched his nostril. "Do you actually expect anyone in this room to believe that?"Ashley stepped forward with her arms crossed and her head shaking in slow, theatrical disbelief. "I have heard some outrageous lies in my career, Trevor. Customers trying to return clothes they wore to weddings. Women claiming their dogs ate their receipts. But this?" She pointed at Ethan with one long acrylic nail. "This is the single most pathetic lie I have ever heard come out of a human mouth. A gift. From the mayor's wife. To a cockroach who can't even afford a pair of real shoes."She turned to Trevor, her voice rising with the righteous energy of a w

Trevor stood behind his father, his confidence fully restored, his chin tilted up, his arms crossed.Ashley leaned against the counter with her smug expression back in place, examining her nails like a woman who had already written the ending to this story in her head."This is my favorite part," the Spirit whispered. "The part where arrogance meets reality at ninety miles an hour."Across town, at the Hartwell manor, Eleanor Hartwell was sitting in her sunroom with Sophia Langford, a director of the Eastern Seaboard Chamber of Commerce and a member of the powerful Langford family.They were having tea. Eleanor's color was better than it had been in over a year. Her breathing was steady. Her hands, which had trembled for months, were still.Sophia's secretary appeared in the doorway with a phone pressed to her chest. "Ma'am, I have a message relayed from a Gerald Park at the Crestwood Grand Mall. A young man matching the description of an Ethan Morrison has been detained in possession

Ashley did not get a chance to defend herself.Trevor kicked past her on his way out without so much as a glance, his bruised face locked forward, his body moving with the stiff, mechanical gait of a man whose only remaining goal was to reach the exit before anything else fell on him.He did not say goodbye. He did not look back. She had served her purpose, and now she was furniture.Sophia Langford turned to Ashley with an expression that contained exactly zero degrees of warmth. "You're terminated. Effective now. Leave your badge at the register and exit through the back."Ashley's mouth opened. "But I didn't... he was the one who...""The security footage will confirm everything I need to know. But I don't need footage to fire someone who mocks a customer's income, suggests they shop at Goodwill, and uses a retail position to settle a personal grudge from high school." Sophia's voice did not rise by a single note. "Leave."Ashley's chin trembled. Her mascara was already running bef