You don't run half the city by shouting the loudest. You do it by listening-really listening. To the things people don't say. The silence between their sentences.

The hesitation in their smile. That's where the truth lives.

Name's Abel. This bar? It's mine. Every lightbulb, every chair, every drop of overpriced whiskey-you're in my house now. Most people who end up here know what they're looking for: protection, power, privacy. Sometimes all three. I give it to them-for a price.

But tonight... tonight's different. She walked in like she didn't belong-like she knew she didn't belong. Alone, pretty, and clearly trying to play it cool while nursing a drink she probably ordered out of heartbreak and rebellion. She's not one of mine. Not yet. But she caught my attention-and I don't hand that out lightly.

I should leave her alone. Let her finish her drink, cry in the bathroom, and go back to whatever safe little life she came from.

But I won't.

Because something tells me she didn'twander in here by accident. And because I've built a kingdom on knowing what people want even before they do.