Chapter 1
“You paid to watch me kneel. Now show me your face.”
The red light on the camera remained steady.
No voice came through.
No screen opened.
Behind me, Ada was breathing hard while one of my guards wrapped a towel around her shoulders. Gavin lay against the heavy bag, trying to sit upright. Rhea watched me from the mat with hatred in her eyes.
Then the camera moved.
Not physically.
The tiny monitor on its side changed.
ONE VIEWER became NINE.
I stared.
Nine people.
Watching live.
Rhea closed her eyes.
That reaction was enough.
“This wasn’t one buyer.”
She said nothing.
I stepped closer to the tripod.
“Nine.”
Gavin laughed through a split lip.
“More wanted in.”
I turned toward him.
“Wanted what?”
“To see whether the great Ronan Bellini would crawl.”
Ada’s hand tightened around my sleeve.
I looked at my sister.
“Did they say why?”
She shook her head.
“They kept asking when you’d arrive.”
Rhea finally spoke.
“Because everybody knows what makes you weak.”
I looked at her.
She smiled.
“Family.”
Wrong.
Family did not make me weak.
People who believed family could be used as leverage made themselves predictable.
Then the monitor changed again.
A message appeared in the private feed.
HE DIDN’T KNEEL.
Another followed.
MOVE TO PHASE TWO.
My jaw tightened.
Rhea went pale.
She had not expected that either.
I looked directly into the lens.
“Whoever you are, you just told me there’s a second phase.”
The viewer count dropped from nine to eight.
Then seven.
People were leaving.
Fast.
Cowards.
Rafe entered behind me holding Gavin’s phone.
“Boss.”
He turned the screen toward me.
Nine encrypted payment receipts.
Same amount.
Same time.
Different initials.
They had not paid Rhea and Gavin to torture Ada.
May you like
They had paid to witness a test.
And apparently seven people were suddenly terrified that I had realized they were the ones being tested now.
