Page 1 (1/2)

Chapter one

CAIN

10 years ago

Blood drops decorate the dusty gray concrete like an abstract piece of art The stocky brute facing ry cut across his cheekbone--can account for so at the hands of this recently paroled rast,ainst the ribs that he just splintered with a series of powerful blows, I struggle not to wince asScreah the underground parking lot of the don business building Nor their naht, though All of these people took the twenty-to-one odds againstsandy beaches and shiny BMWs

Hell, I alainst me But, there’s not a person in the world that I trust with that kind of money to place it for me Except maybe Nate But he’s fourteen and a known associate of et on his head if I sent him to the bookie

"Coether, a wicked grin on his face

I remain silent as Nate splashesto rinse the coppery taste out of s out, so I’in the air over round Now This is real underground fighting The kind that brings the high-rolling criether like fa tests No rules No true refereeing The hter’s broken body is collected off the ground

Not exactly the world a loving father would introduce his son into But I don’t have a loving father I have aon h to teach me how to hold my own and harden my muscles beyond their years--decided he could hting scene At the age of seventeen, when my body wasn’t even fully developed but was solid on account of the grueling workouts ly I’ve even enjoyed it,in, his bones I’, every time I raise my fists

Every time I pulverize my opponent

And now, at nineteen years old, I’ve ended up fighting for my life in the upper echelon of this illicit world I could win big on this one hat I put down Or I could end up in a body bag As I gaze at the goon in front of ly veins protruding from his neck, his face a hideous mess of blood and ink--I accept that I probably won’t be the last one standing here, tonight I’ht Jones is likely high onthe animal to his knees, and I don’t have elephant tranquilizers inlance over my shoulder at the scrawny kid in my corner My only reliable confidante, the one byhis cell phone to his ear, his ebony skin turned a sickly ashen tinge "So down at Wilcox" Wilcox My parents’ street Nate’s wideto ain?" I ask It wouldn’t be the first ti different Benny sao guys show up about twenty o" Benny’s a fifteen-year-old kid who lives across the street frooes to Nate’s school with him He’s a shithead, but he worships Nate because Nate is connected toas the question is, it’s valid Both ofside oftrade,business/ brothel out of randmother’s house And now one of theh to track theive a shit I’d be ecstatic Maybe, if et rid ofon a Tuesday, and Lizzy, my sixteen-year-old sister, could be asleep in her bed And, if these guys caoes to the hollowed-out ar to find it empty

Because I stole every last bill earlier today to put down on this fight

A new visual blazes intheir payment on Lizzy

That’s all it takes forpain in h new eyes If I bury the odoet to their house in under fifteen oon is the only thing stopping ht now

"Nate, tell Benny to call the cops"