Verity raised her eyebrows at Chance, whose dimples had completely disappeared under the dark shadow of his phone call. “Fights?”

He scowled and shook his head. “Leave it alone, sugar.”

And like that he was gone. Walking away from her like she meant nothing to him. And for all she knew, she probably did. When she’d talked to him tonight, trading verbal barbs, and watching his handsome—no gorgeous—face, she’d glimpsed something amazing. That his kindness earlier in the day hadn’t been a figment of her imagination, and the heat from when his hands touched her spoke of something real, not just overactive hormones.

His face changed when he received that phone call. He became someone harder. Someone she didn’t know. Someone dangerous.

The bar cleared out quickly except for the few cyborgs who were too inebriated to care about the police showing up. Waitresses pulled down their skirts, tucked whatever measly tips they’d made away, and scurried out of the bar like rats into the tunnels. Verity and Priya were the only ones remaining, and Priya looked like she was primed to do some damage.

“Can you fucking believe this?” Priya said, slamming her tray on the empty bar. “An entire night lost.”

“Won’t they come back?”

“Tomorrow, sure. But tonight? What’s the point? With the fights shut down and the girls gone, there’s nothing to come back for.”

Questions dripped from the tip of Verity’s tongue, but the door of the Ball & Joint crashed open.

“POLICE! Everyone stay where you are.”

Twenty black-clad Cyn City officers swarmed into the bar, blocking all of the entrances and sweeping quickly through the entire room. They patted down the patrons and turned the lights all the way up so that every nook, cranny, and bloody stain could be seen. For extra effect, they turned over a few tables, and a few of the officers jumped up onto the stage and wandered backstage. The dancers had all left, but Verity avoided going back there and had no idea what they might find.

In the middle of it all, Chance watched.

Verity’s heart dropped into her stomach. Watching him work his jaw and bark orders at the bartender and bouncers to do as the police asked sent shots of adrenaline through her. He ran the room as if it was him, not the police, who were conducting the investigation. He even led them right into the backrooms where only ten minutes ago girls were doing a whole lot more than dancing for tips.

A group of police came in with dogs, large snarling creatures with long black snouts and pointy ears. The only dogs she’d ever seen before worked on the farm, chasing rats and barking at livestock. Harmless. These animals seemed like something out of a horror story. Their twitching noses led their handlers through the room, sniffing under tables and along the walls.

A handsome officer with black hair, a tightly trimmed black beard, and eyes the color of sapphires motioned Chance away from the other officers and closer to the bar. “You know we have to look downstairs.”

“Time to make like water, and run,” Priya whispered in Verity’s ear. She sauntered across the room, right past one of the massive dogs who gave a low guttural growl as she walked by and made for the door. No one even noticed her go.

Verity knew she should leave too, but she needed to work, as long as there were people here to serve she had to stay. Even just a handful of credits might make the difference between her and Imogen paying rent and living in the soggy streets.

“Downstairs is clean,” Chance said, and the officer waved the others on, through the subtly hidden door at the end of the bar.

“Thanks, Griff.” Chance stuffed a wad of credits so thick in the officer’s cybernetic hand Verity thought she might pass out. That was months’ worth of rent for her, and Chance just passed it over like it was nothing. Wicksham had said the police demanded money to look the other way, but this wasn’t looking the other way to her. This was more like barging in and ransacking the place.

“No, man, I won’t take your money.”

“You did your part and gave me a heads up. I did mine and kept the drugs and kids out of here. We’re square, so you get paid. Plus, you need it for your girl.”

Griff’s face softened for a moment, his blue eyes turning dark, almost navy in the strange light of the bar. “I don’t like being on the take.”

“Ain’t like that brother, promise. Only thing you’re looking the other way for is shit everyone knows happens here. Your Captain just wants to shake Garvan down. Hell, he was here the other night betting against Markus.”

“Well, then, he’s a fucking fool for more than one reason.” Griff laughed and grabbed the comm attached to his belt. “Nothing here boys, let’s move out.”

The whole scene was over and done before Verity had a chance to catch her breath. A wave of officers came from the secret corners and hidden doors all around the bar, a block of hard bodies moving like marching ants until they disappeared back into the night, leaving behind nothing but bright lights and an empty bar.

“Wrap it up, kids, everybody out!” Chance called out. The few remaining men stumbled out the front door, leaving Verity alone without even a dollar to her name.

“You too,” the muscular cyborg’s eyes were hard as he aimed them in her direction.

“How am I supposed to make any tips if you shut us down?”

“Not my problem, time to head out.” He held her gaze with unwavering eyes.

Tears threatened to fall but she fought them back, refusing to let her problems turn her into some simpering weak girl. If she let that happen every time an impossible situation stood between her and what she wanted, she’d be dead a long time ago.

“No point in opening up again, no girls and no customers.” Chance shrugged and turned away to duck behind the bar.

She watched him for a few moments, as he pulled out the till and started counting out the cash from the register. Damn. She was waiting. Like a schoolgirl waiting for her fella to come carry her books and walk her home. Some part of her had gotten used to, even liked, Chance escorting her back to her apartment, and now, without realizing it, she had expected it to happen again.

But he didn’t owe her anything, just like she kept telling him. Now she needed to believe it herself and get the hell out of there before he realized what she had been doing.

His hands moved over the cash, human fingers strong and calloused, metal ones smooth and cool. Just like him. Warm and real one moment, detached and mechanical the next.

“You need something? he asked without looking up.

For a moment she considered asking him for a loan, just enough for rent. She’d work it off, as many shifts as it took. But the last thing she wanted was a favor from him. She didn’t like the idea of owing him a single damn thing, especially when he stood there like it was his heart that had been replaced with metal and gears and not his arm.

“No, I’m good. Am I set to work tomorrow night?”

“Yep. You said you needed the credits.”

“See you then.” Verity grabbed her bag from behind the bar and walked out. She half imagined she heard someone say her name, in a low vibrating whisper, but that wasn’t possible. Chance was only interested in paying off cops and protecting whatever “fights” were happening downstairs. She realized he was probably right. He wasn’t someone she wanted to know.

* * *

Garvan tapped the tip of a stylus against his oversized desk. The cheap aluminum had dents and cracks in it, but Garvan ruled from behind it like a king.

“So, what you’re telling me is that you need to get paid before services rendered?” the dark-haired kingpin said. His aquiline nose added a distinguished look to his black hair and blacker eyes, despite what had to be a number of breaks in his past. He was handsome in his own way, smoldering and intense.

Verity didn’t focus on his looks though, only on the promises she hoped he could help her keep. “Just like the police came here last night, they’ve been coming to apartment buildings more often. My landlord let me stay for the first month free, so I could get a job, but now the rent is due, and he needs more than I thought.”

“Seems like a lot of people are doing you favors.”

“None I don’t make good on.” She raised her chin, hoping to portray an image of respectability.

Garvan studied her. His black eyes boring into her just like the first time she’d met him, asking for a job and hoping it would be something she could do with her clothes on. His gaze landed like a cold touch, leaving goosebumps and hesitation in his wake.

He was a dangerous man. She could see it in the set of his jaw, the way his fingers were clean with short manicured nails. This was a man who wielded the kind of power better avoided, especially in a place like Cyn City where power meant crime. There was no other way to get ahead in the lower city it seemed. But she did her damnedest to make a life for herself. One she could be proud of. And to do that, she needed this.

“I’ll pay you back out of time worked. First in, first out. That way you’ll get paid back fast, and I can earn the money fairly.”

“And interest?” Garvan’s eyes twinkled, a lock of his wavy black hair falling forward across his forehead.

“And interest.”

“If you pay it back on schedule plus, let’s say, 12% interest, I can make this happen.” He opened one of the large drawers in his desk and pulled out a large black lock box with a handle on the top. “Do you know why safes are made out of steel?”

“No,” Verity replied, trying to calm her bubbling stomach and hopeful tears.

“Steel is the safest material in case of fire. Wood and other such materials allow the fire to spread, steel contains it. That’s why safes have double layers so the heat can be trapped in the box’s frame and give you time to rescue any valuables you have inside.” Garvan placed two large piles of bills on the table in front of her.

“This looks like more than I need,” Verity said, her voice shaking. How could she take so much without giving anything in return?

“Take it, this way, in case it takes you a little longer to pay off, you have wiggle room, and when you are flush with hours, you can just return whatever you didn’t use, no interest accrued.”

“That’s too generous.”

Garvan smiled, his white teeth highlighted by the glinting titanium ones in the dim light. “Nothing I wouldn’t do for any of my employees. I like to see happy faces when I come into the bar, and I like to know you are taken care of. I’m glad you know you can trust me to take care of you.”

His smile widened and something about it made Verity’s chest hurt, but he pushed the feeling down and reached out for the piles of bills, trying not to seem overly eager, but unable to keep her hands from shaking.

“Now, to seal our deal, we shake hands, like men and women of our word, yes?”

Verity stuffed the bills into her bag and reached out to take Garvan’s hand. His grip was firm and strong, squeezing hard enough to let her know that despite his lack of cybernetic enhancements, he could crush her if he chose. She shook back, trying to hide the shiver that ran up her spine.