Chapter 5 - Shadows and Mercenaries
Stripped of his trust fund, his cars, and his social standing in a matter of forty-eight hours, Marcus was a desperate man. His father had been ousted, forced into early retirement, and the Vance name was poison in the financial district.
Sitting in a dimly lit dive bar on the wrong side of the city—a place he would have burned down a week ago—Marcus met with a man known only as 'Graves.' Graves was a fixer, a man who dealt in permanent solutions for the city's elite.
"Tobias Thorne," Marcus slid a crumpled photograph across the sticky table. It was a tabloid picture of Toby walking out of the Vance building. "I want him gone. Completely."
Graves picked up the photo, chewing on a toothpick. "Thorne? You're asking me to step on a landmine, kid. The Thorne family has private security that makes the military look like boy scouts."
"I have money," Marcus lied, pushing a duffel bag across the table. It contained the last of the cash he had managed to siphon from an offshore account before Toby froze his assets—fifty thousand dollars. "Half now. Half when it's done."
May you like
Graves unzipped the bag, peeked at the stacks of bills, and smirked. "He's visiting the new waterfront development project tomorrow night. Alone. Supposedly doing a final inspection before the press conference."
"Make it hurt," Marcus spat, his eyes wild with unhinged malice. "I want him to know it was me."
