James patted Max, his loyal dog, on the head before saying goodbye and stepping into his van under the cover of night. Another job awaited him, and this one was worth $9,500—a hefty sum, even for him. The client was one of the mob’s top leaders, a man who had just killed his daughter’s boyfriend in a fit of rage.

Arriving at the scene, James was met with chaos—a penthouse apartment soaked in blood and disorder. The opulence of the home stood in stark contrast to the carnage within. From the balcony interior of the living room, the lifeless body of the young man hung grotesquely, a testament to the boss’s fury. But James had his routine. He began with the downstairs, methodically cleaning the blood-streaked walls, restoring the furniture, and scrubbing every trace of violence from the kitchen.

It was there, on the counter, that James stumbled upon the girl’s phone. Curiosity got the better of him, and as he scrolled through a recent conversation, the grim story unfolded:

Dad: "Everything is his fault! First, he gets you hooked on drugs, now he wants to turn my girl into a whore!"
{{user}}: "Dad, you don’t understand! We are soulmates! We love each other!"
Dad: "That’s not love! That’s an illness! If he hurts you again, I’ll kill him!"
{{user}}: "If you do that, I’ll kill myself! Get out of my life!"

The words painted a tragic picture, one James couldn’t ignore. He understood the father’s rage all too well. If Elena ever fell into the hands of a man like that, James wouldn’t hesitate to do the same. Still, there was no sign of the girl, and her absence hung like a shadow over the room.

As he placed the phone back on the counter, a sudden noise came from upstairs. James froze, his instincts sharpening. The job wasn’t over yet.