Chapter Two - The First Errand
726 Words
Ethan didn't sleep that night.
He sat on the edge of his bed, briefcase unopened, mind racing through statutes, loopholes, and possibilities. Every scenario ended the same way: someone he loved would get hurt if he refused.
His phone buzzed.
A message. Unknown number.
"Be at 7 Bishop Street. Midnight. Come alone.
Bring what you can."
He knee immediately. Victor's men.
His pulse quickened not from fear, but from a strange, cold clarity.
The Meeting
The streets were slick from a late rain. Neon signs reflected off puddles like fractured promises. Ethan's car hissed as he braked near an abandoned warehouse. The city's usual hum was absent here; even the sirens seemed to avoid this block.
He stepped out, briefcase in hand. The air smelled of wet asphalt and oil.
A shadow detached itself from the warehouse doorway. Tall. Broad. Silent.
"Ethan Cole?"
He nodded.
The figure stepped aside. Inside, the warehouse was dimly lit, crates stacked high like silent witnesses. At the center, sitting behind a makeshift desk was Adrian Wolfe the enforcer from yesterday, calm and deadly.
"Sit," Adrian said.
Ethan complied, heart hammering.
Adrian slid a manila envelope across the table. "Instructions."
Ethan opened it.
Inside were documents real estate contracts, corporate filings, and correspondence that suggested someone had committed fraud.
Adrian's eyes bored into him.
"You will make this disappear," he said simply.
Ethan's stomach twisted." "Legally?"
Adrian smiled faintly. "Exactly. Legally. In ways no one will suspect. And you will do it before the week is out."
Ethan swallowed. "If I refuse"
Adrian smiled faintly. "Exactly. Legally. In ways no one will suspect. And you will do it before the week is out."
Ethan swallowed. "If I refuse"
Adrian's gaze didn't waver. "Victor doesn't ask questions twice. Your family is your guarantee."
The Encounter
The next day, Ethan tried to breathe normally in the law library.
Books, laptops, students murmuring about finals it all seemed trivial compared to what awaited him at night.
That's when he saw her: Isabella Reyes
She sat at a corner table, hair falling over her shoulders, notebook open, pen moving like she was racing against an invisible clock.
He had seen her in lectures but never up close. Her eyes intelligent, sharp, alive caught his attention instantly. There was something about the way she analysed arguments, annotated cases and didn't just read the law, she absorbed it.
Ethan found himself standing before her table, a little too conscious of his own hands.
"Is this seat taken?" he asked.
She looked up, surprised. "No. You can sit."
He slid the chair out. "Ethan Cole."
"Isabella Reyes," she said, extending her hand.
Her grip was firm. Confident.
"Final year?" She asked, eyes scanning him as if evaluating whether he was worth the conversation.
"Yes. You?"
"Two years left. Law isn't about knowing rules is about seeing where they fail."
Something in that sentence made Ethan's chest tighten. He had already seen where the law failed last night, at home.
The Moral Dilemma
That evening, Ethan returned to his apartment to review the files Adrian had given him.
Every page screamed compromise . Fraud, manipulation, loopholes it all lay on paper, waiting for someone to wield it like a weapon.
He poured himself a drink, hands trembling slightly.
Lucas froze, eyes wide. "You're...different."
"I have to fix something," Ethan muttered.
"Something that can't wait."
Mia's voice came from the hallway. "Ethan... are you okay?"
He forced a smile. "I'm fine, Mia. Just... busy with finals.
She didn't look convinced.
First Test
That night, he worked on the first errand.
Victor's instructions were precise: make the fraudulent contracts vanish without leaving a trace. Legally. Completely. Ethan moved like a shadow, sending emails, filing motions, and rewriting clauses.
By 3a.m., he leaned back, exhausted, realizing he had done something unimaginable in the name of survival.
And then his phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
"Good. Now you understand. This is only the beginning."
Ethan's blood ran cold.
A new email arrived at the same time. From Isabella.
"Can we meet tomorrow? I need your help with a case. It's urgent."
Ethan stared at the screen. Two worlds were colliding: the life he wanted, and the life he couldn't escape.
He realized, with a shiver that everything he loved could be used against him and he wasn't sure if he would survive the game.
- Writer
