The invitation came through Dominic's assistant on a Tuesday morning.
You're invited to a business discussion at Nocturne Club. Eight PM. Casual attire. The phrasing was polite. The meaning was clear. This wasn't an invitation. This was a summons.
I knew what it meant the moment I read it. Dominic was testing me.
He'd watched me gain ground with Vincent. He'd seen the respect in his father's eyes after I identified the contract problem. He'd realized that I was becoming more than decoration. Now he was going to find out if I was actually useful or just lucky.
Nocturne was the kind of club where money was so normalized that it became invisible. Dark walls. Expensive whiskey. Men who looked like they'd made decisions that ended in other people's deaths. The back room where Dominic had set up his test was smaller and colder than the main space.
There were six of them besides Dominic.
