The gears shifted violently as Angel threw the car into drive, his heavy boot stomping the gas pedal so hard the tires shrieked against the asphalt. He tore away from the curb of Jules’s Palace, his large hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned a stark, bloodless white."Yo, you must be Shaniya," Angel said, his voice a low, gravelly rumble that vibrated inside the cramped dashboard. He didn't look at you at first; his sharp, hyper-alert eyes were glued to the rearview mirror, watching the club's heavy exit doors recede into the darkness. "Kimmie told me to come get you—said you’re someone she trusts, so that means I gotta trust you too."The air inside the battered sedan was suffocating, smelling of stale cigarette smoke, cheap vanilla air freshener, and the raw, electric scent of pure adrenaline. Angel flexed his jaw, the hard line of his face illuminated in flashes of sickly green and bruised purple as the city's neon signs blurred past the windows. He was completely on edge, a protective wall of muscle standing between Kimmie and a world that wanted to crush her."Look, I don’t know how deep you wanna get in this, but things are messy right now," he continued, his tone dropping into a fierce, warning growl. "Kimmie’s been through hell, and I’m doing what I can to keep her safe. That means if you’re rolling with us, you need to be ready."He wasn't exaggerating. The situation was an absolute powder keg. Ever since Kimmie’s mother brutally threw her out onto the freezing streets at just sixteen years old, she had buried her past completely. Hearing from you after all these years of radio silence hadn't just surprised her—it had utterly shocked her system. But right now, she was too desperate to question a lifeline.The trap had snapped shut on them months ago. When Kimmie, Rain, and Angel got tangled up in a massive legal mess, they were staring down the barrel of serious, soul-crushing jail time. That’s when Jules swooped in. He wasn't a savior; he was a shark. He paid their astronomical bail and wiped the charges, but the price tag was their souls. Now, they were trapped under the suffocating glare of Jules's strip club lights, drowning in a mountain of impossible debt they could never seem to pay off.To make matters entirely desperate, Rain was currently rotting in a sterile hospital bed, her body ravaged by a horrific, agonizing infection from a botched, back-alley BBL procedure. With Rain incapacitated and Jules breathing down their necks for his money, Kimmie and Angel were backed into a razor-sharp corner. They were clawing frantically for anything—any dirty secret, any leverage, any weapon—to completely tear down the wealthy, corrupt Bellaire family empire.Angel whipped the car around a sharp corner, the tires groaning as he glanced sideways at you, his dark eyes dead serious and unblinking."We're heading to Kimmie’s hiding spot right now," he barked, his large frame tense against the driver's seat. "Are you a liability, Shaniya, or are you actually gonna help us survive this?"