JAMES

The Blooming Rose Hotel was alive tonight. The red lights dropped from the ceiling like a blood moon, filling the air with power and money.

This was the kind of place where every laugh had a price and every glance could get your throat slit.

I adjusted my cufflinks into a perfect smile that matched theirs. I’d been doing it for years—I was already a pro.

This wasn’t a party; it was ground zero. And if anything went wrong, everyone here had a gun on them, including ...