“Max, wait!” I ignore Cairo’s cry and slip through the door before it shuts behind me.

“Please. Please!” Uncle Conrad’s begging. “I can get you the money.” His voice pitches with desperation.

Shit!

Who are these people?

Has Uncle Conrad been gambling in Brazenwood too?

Or have the people he most feared found him?

Who are they again?

I thought they were miles away. How did they find him here?

Wincing, I creep after my uncle while scrambling for answers…and a way out of this mess.

Call Dad.

It’s the most obvious solution, right?

Sick, hot dread storms up my throat as I pat my back pocket and realize my cell phone is already with Uncle Conrad. I asked him to look after it for me while I was on stage.

“Shit,” I quietly whisper, inching down the dark corridor.

My breath is on hold, only escaping when I hear a crunching thud followed by a pitiful cry.

With a trembling stomach, I ease around the corner and see my uncle crumpled on the floor. He’s crying already, that pitiful weeping that breaks the heart.

He thinks he’s dead. They’re going to bury his body in the desert, just like he told me they would.

But I’m not about to let that happen.

Spinning on my heel, I head back out to find Cairo. I’ll use his phone.

But I don’t get more than two steps when I’m stopped by some rodent in a charcoal suit that’s a size too small.

He jolts to a stop when he sees me and we both stare at each other for a second before he blinks and points his finger at me. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Uh…no-nobody. I’m just…lost.” I put on a weak smile but it’s met by a narrowed glare that tells me I’m not getting out of this in a hurry.

“You’re coming with me.” He yanks my arm, whipping me around and trying to force me down the corridor.

I fight against him, grunting and smashing my fist down on his arm.

“Hey!” he snaps, yanking a gun from beneath his jacket and pointing it at my head. “Show some respect.”

I freeze, air barely able to pass through my panicked windpipe.

“Now if I ask you to do something, you do it.”

He presses the metal into my cheek and I suck in a sharp breath.

“Let’s go!” His fingers are like iron talons as he digs them into my arm and hauls me to the room where Uncle Conrad is meeting his end.

“Mateo, we’re in a meeting!” A tall guy with a neat goatee narrows his eyes at me.

“Sorry, boss, but I found her snooping.”

The tall Latino crosses his arms, his dark brown glare trying to intimidate me.

It’s pretty much working, but I try not to let that show.

“Let him go.” My voice has the strength of a mouse and I hate myself for it. Clearing my throat, I pull my shoulders back and try again. “Let him go.”

“Yeah, right, sweetness.” Shorty yanks my arm and throws me to the floor beside Uncle Conrad.

I glance at his sorry face. Blood is dripping from his mouth, and I’m pretty sure the angle of his nose tells me it’s broken.

“You gotta get out of here,” he lisps under his breath.

The tall guy bends down, getting in my face. “You know this man?”

He has this creepy, arrogant vibe going on and I shy away from it.

“Answer the question.”

I swallow and lick my lips, still unsure what to say.

With a sharp huff, he slaps my cheek. I gasp at the burning sting.

“Answer. The question.”

“He has my phone,” I blurt. “And I need to use it so that I can call my dad. He’ll come here and fix this.”

The man snickers with surprise and then bursts into laughter.

I wince and share a look with Uncle Conrad. He gives me a pained frown, desperation clear in his eyes. “Listen, guys, she’s nobody, all right? Just let her walk out of here.”

“Shut up.” The man gives Uncle Conrad a backhand slap and he tips sideways, landing on the floor with a thud.

Breaths punch out of me, fast and erratic.

“You seem upset.” The man smiles down at me before kicking Uncle Conrad in the stomach.

My body convulses as I grit my teeth and glare at him.

“This man is important to you, yes?”

I cast my eyes to the floor.

“Novia, I am running out of patience.” He grabs my face, squeezing my cheeks until they cut into my teeth. “I have a very busy club and I need to be out there. But instead, I am in here with a sniveling idiot who doesn’t know how to pay his debts. Now, if you want him to walk out of here alive, then you need to help me solve this problem. Do you understand?”

Fear’s cutting my voice box in half. All I can do is bob my head.

“So…” The man crouches down, his hot breath searing my skin when he leans in close. “Do you have sixty-five thousand dollars?”

My nostrils flare. I try to lean away from him, but his grip on my face is relentless.

“Speak!”

I flinch and murmur, “I have a baseball card collection.”

He snorts and looks up to the rodent who dragged me in here before laughing at me like I’m a big joke.

“It’s worth a lot of money!” I shout as he lets me go and rises to his feet.

“Yes, after you sell it, which I’m not interested in doing. I want my money now!” His sudden boom makes me jerk. Fear pulses through me in sick nauseating waves as he smooths back his slick hair and straightens his suit jacket.

Catching the rodent’s eye, he tips his head towards Uncle Conrad. The man hauls my uncle back to his knees, then pulls out his gun and presses it against the back of Uncle Conrad’s head.

“No!” I shout. “I can get you the money. You can’t kill him! You—”

“How? How will you get my money?”

“I’ll…I’ll call my dad. He’ll be good for it.” My words come out in a breathy whisper as that burning dread threatens to take me out.

“Is your daddy important, huh? He can get my money?”

“He can fix this,” I whisper, glancing at Uncle Conrad.

He squeezes his eyes shut and droops his head.

The man stares between us, his eyes narrowing.

“Who is your father?”

“He’s…uh, he’s nobody, but he can…he…”

The man’s lips twitch with a frown before he thunder slaps me with the back of his hand. “You are a terrible liar.”

I cover my face, hissing at the pain and finally admitting, “He’s a cop, okay? You don’t want to do this!”

“Ha.” The tall man stills, his dark eyebrows rising before he shares a look with the rodent. “Policía.”

His dark eyes glimmer and the shorter man quietly tucks his gun away, a muscle working in his jaw as he tries to avoid his boss’s glare.

“Okay.” The tall one wags his finger in the air like he’s thinking. “Well, I’m sure he will understand that the law is being broken right now.” He points at Uncle Conrad who is sniveling beside me. “You see, this man owes me money and he’s not paying. So maybe if you call your father, he can come and arrest him for robbery.”

I give him a confused frown.

“Diego, get the phone.” He tips his head at the muscle beside my uncle.

The man nods and roughly checks Uncle Conrad’s pockets, yanking out two phones and throwing them both at me.

I catch mine, but struggle to hold it in my shaking fingers, especially when the boss pulls a gun and presses it against the side of my head.

“Now, you call your father and you tell him that if he wants to see you again, he needs to pay Conrad’s debts.”

“He’s a cop!” I snap. “Are you seriously threatening to kill me?”

The man gets in my space, his goatee tickling my ear as he whispers, “I don’t care what his profession is. People will do anything to save their children.”

“If you hurt me, you’re going down.”

“Novia,” he whispers with a snicker. “I can make you disappear off the face of this earth, and he won’t be able to pin a thing on me. I make my own justice, and I won’t be afraid of some little policeman.” He steps back and gives me a smarmy smile before his face goes rigid with warning. “Make the call.”

My lips tremble, tears smarting as I unlock the screen and find Dad’s number.

“You have some serious explaining to do!” Dad yells at me the second he picks up.

“Dad, you need to come get me.”

“Oh, I am already on my way.”

I cringe, the heat of his rage blasting my ear. “You know where to come?”

“Yes, Maddie and Chloe have been very helpful. I’ve even brought them along for the ride, so I can blast you all together.”

“Don’t let them into the club.” My voice hitches, and finally, finally Dad hears me.

His tone changes, the hot emotion replaced with a cool calm that should be soothing. “Are you okay?”

“I’m with Uncle Rad and things…aren’t great.”

“Tell him to go backstage. Someone will be waiting for him.” The Latino man digs the gun into my temple and I can’t help a small whimper.

“Max, what’s going on?”

“He owes money and he needs to pay his debt tonight or they’re going to kill him. You need to head into the club and go backstage. Someone will be waiting for you.”

The man snatches the phone out of my hands and hangs up before Dad can respond. The phone clunks to the floor in front of me. With a sniff, he tucks the gun away, then raises his eyebrows at the guy who brought me into this mess.

“Wait at the door for him.”

Glaring down at me, he pinches his nose and mutters, “Your papi better be good for it, or we’ll be making all three of you disappear.” He snaps his fingers and splays them through the air. “Like magic.”