The bald enforcer stood frozen, his mind reeling from the sheer impossibility of the scene he had just witnessed. In his two decades of navigating the violent undercurrents of the criminal world, he had never encountered a man who treated a threat as an invitation. To be told—commanded, even—to call for reinforcements was a slap in the face to his entire professional identity. It was a total subversion of the power dynamics he understood.
Grief and fury warred within him, but the physical agony radiating from his shattered jaw eventually won out. He fumbled in his pocket, pulling out a smartphone with a hand that shook like a leaf in a gale. "You arrogant little cockroach," he hissed through the blood pooling in his mouth. "You think being a fast mover makes you a god? In this city, power
