Joseph Bailey knelt before Matthew Powell, his forehead pressing painfully into the cold asphalt. The once-feared kingpin of Valor City, a man whose name could stop a child from crying, was now reduced to a trembling mess of expensive fabric and fear.
"Big Brother," Joseph whimpered, his voice cracking. "I... I didn't know. I swear on my life I didn't know."
Matthew frowned, his gaze piercing through the top of Joseph's head. "You didn't know?"
The question hung in the air, heavy and suffocating. The temperature around them seemed to drop another ten degrees. Joseph shuddered, realizing that feigning ignorance was not a defense; it was an admission of incompetence. And in Matthew's world, incompetence was a death sentence.
"It was my failure!" Joseph cried out, panic rising in his ches
