[Jake's POV]
The summons came at midnight, exactly two hours after we dropped the collection envelopes off at the Golden Koi's counting room.
Ethan and I were sitting in the dimly lit kitchen of our safehouse, nursing bruised ribs and drinking cheap local beer, when the heavy, reinforced door rattled with three sharp knocks. Ethan tensed, his hand dropping toward the kitchen knife on the counter, but I shook my head. The Black Lotus wouldn't knock.
I opened the door. Standing in the hallway was Gao, the scarred enforcer who had punched me in the stomach on our first night in Macau. He wasn't flanked by guards this time. He stood alone, his dark eyes sweeping over my torn canvas jacket and the faint bruising on my knuckles.
"The Matriarch wants to see you," Gao said, his voice a low, gravelly rumble. He didn't look at Ethan. "Just you, Noah."
"It's late," I said, playing the role of the exhausted runner. "Can't it wait until the morning collection?"
