Chapter 4: The Snare

The storm had passed but the city still carried its ghost. Puddles pooled in the cracked sidewalks reflecting the neon signs that hummed like dying fireflies. A mist curled over the streets wrapping around parked cars stretching through alleyways like fingers searching for lost souls.

Ethan Cipher moved through the back entrance of La Perla Nera without hesitation. He had always known how to navigate the underworld how to blend in how to listen more than he spoke, how to leave without a trace. This world belonged to those who understood silence better than words and Ethan was fluent in both.

Inside the atmosphere was thick with smoke and expectation. Shadows pooled in the corners where men spoke in hushed tones where money passed hands in discreet gestures. La Perla Nera wasn't just a club. It was a meeting ground for the city's most dangerous minds a place where deals were whispered and futures were decided.

And tonight Ethan was stepping onto dangerous ground.

Amano de Salva was already seated his usual glass of whiskey resting between two fingers. He didn't look up immediately. Instead he traced the rim of the glass with his thumb as if measuring the weight of the moment before acknowledging Ethan's presence.

"You're late." His voice was smooth deliberate.

Ethan slid into the booth opposite him, unbuttoning his coat. "Traffic."

Amano smirked, finally lifting his gaze. "Traffic or hesitation?"

Ethan didn't flinch. He had walked into this meeting knowing how it would be perceived. Amano de Salva wasn't just any man he was a ghost that haunted the business a strategist who didn't move unless the outcome was already in his favor. Sitting across from him meant you either knew something valuable or you were about to be tested.

Ethan wasn't here to betray anyone.

But Elizabeth Kane had set the board long before he even stepped onto it.

Amano reached into his coat retrieving a sleek black envelope. He placed it between them the fine paper gliding against the polished wood with a whisper.

"This is an investment," Amano said. "Before I move forward I need to know where your loyalty truly lies."

Ethan eyed the envelope. It wasn't a bribe...it was a weight, a test disguised as a transaction.

He knew how this would look to anyone watching. A rival crime strategist handing him money in the dim light of a club infamous for backdoor deals. It was the kind of moment that ended men's careers...or their lives.

But Ethan wasn't here for money.

He was here for answers.

A flicker of hesitation crossed his mind. Somewhere out there someone could be watching. Someone could twist this moment into something it wasn't.

But this wasn't just about him anymore.

"You're not the type to invest in lost causes" Ethan said finally, sliding the envelope into his pocket. "So what is it you really want?"

Amano's smirk was barely there, but it carried weight. "To know if you're a man who plays for survival or for power."

Ethan didn't answer immediately. Because the truth was he wasn't playing for either.

He was playing to protect someone.

But before he could push the conversation further before he could shift the game in his favor the night had already betrayed him.

The Watchful Eyes

Across the city in a dimly lit backroom tucked beneath an unmarked garage Elizabeth Kane leaned over her laptop watching the footage unfold.

The camera embedded seamlessly into the booth's wooden frame had captured everything.

The exchange of the envelope. The way Ethan had slipped it into his pocket.

No sound. No context.

Just the undeniable image of a deal being made.

Her pulse was steady her breath measured. But beneath that careful exterior something cold coiled inside her.

Ethan Cipher her Ethan was sitting across from Amano de Salva a man who did not entertain conversations without purpose.

She had spent years navigating these waters learning to see the moves before they were played. And this move? It wasn't just dangerous.

It was fatal.

She clicked the file embedding it in a secure untraceable message.

Not to the police.

Not to the press.

But to Liam O'Sullivan's right-hand man.

She had no choice.

Ethan had walked into a room he wasn't supposed to enter. And in their world, you didn't get second chances.

The moment the email was sent Elizabeth sat back exhaling slowly.

Ethan Cipher had just become the hunted.

And he didn't even know it yet.

Liam O'Sullivan's Estate

The video looped again. The room was silent except for the hum of the projector casting Ethan Cipher's betrayal across the wall. Shadows flickered with each frame the ghostly play of light carving sharper lines into Liam O'Sullivan's already hardened face.

Daniel Wren stood at his side arms crossed his gaze fixed on the screen. There was something dangerous in his stance an animal that smelled blood.

"Four times now" Liam murmured his voice deceptively calm. "And it still looks the same."

Daniel's jaw tensed. "It is the same. There's no spinning it Liam. Ethan took the money."

Liam finally leaned forward pressing his knuckles against the polished wood of his desk. His fingers curled dragging slow deliberate patterns across the surface.

"No," he said at last. "No it's not the same. The question isn't whether Ethan took the money. The question is why?"

Daniel hesitated. That was the thing about Liam. He never moved on impulse. Where others would act, he waited. He let the blade hover an inch above the throat, just long enough to see if the condemned would flinch.

"Does it matter?" Daniel asked. "You said it yourself. Amano isn't the kind of man you do favors for unless you're ready to sell your soul. And if Ethan's playing both sides"

Liam's head turned sharply. "If Ethan is playing both sides," he corrected. "But you and I both know Ethan Cipher isn't stupid. He wouldn't do this unless he had a reason."

Daniel exhaled through his nose. He knew where this was heading.

"You want to talk to him first."

Liam didn't answer right away. Instead, he reached for his cigarette case, flipping it open with practiced ease. The silver glinted under the dim light.

"I want to see" Liam said lighting the cigarette with a slow inhale, "if he'll lie to my face."

Ethan Cipher's Penthouse A

The amber liquid in Ethan's glass sloshed slightly as he lifted it to his lips but he barely tasted it. His eyes were locked on the phone screen the name flashing in stark white letters against the dark display.

Liam O'Sullivan.

A name that came with weight. With consequences.

A slow breath. He forced a smirk onto his face before answering, his voice smooth measured. "Liam. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Silence. Thick and absolute.

Then

"Where are you?"

Ethan's grip on the glass tightened. His pulse steady a moment ago ticked up. He could hear it in Liam's voice. The tension. The unsaid words beneath those three clipped syllables.

"At home" Ethan answered. He didn't bother lying. Liam would know. He always knew.

A beat of silence. Then

"Good. Stay there."

A dead line.

Ethan lowered the phone slowly his grip tightening around the smooth edges. His gaze flicked to the city skyline the lights sprawling out beyond the glass, indifferent to the fact that his world had just shifted.

Something was wrong.

Not wrong calculated.

The kind of wrong that didn't happen by accident. The kind that came with intent. With precision.

He set the glass down carefully as if the weight of it might tip something over inside him. Then without hesitation he reached for his laptop. His fingers flew over the keys pulling up his encrypted accounts.

The transaction was still there. The money Amano had handed him. Unmoved. Unspent.

A test.

A meaningless exchange.

But someone had been watching.

His blood turned cold.

This wasn't just a leak.

This was orchestrated.

And whoever had orchestrated it… knew exactly where to cut.

A name formed in his mind before he could stop it. A name that carried the same weight as a blade pressed against his throat.

Elizabeth Kane.

His fingers tapped against the desk erratic. His thoughts racing trying to piece together the play.

The phone call had been short. Too short.

Liam O'Sullivan wasn't a man who wasted words. And the way he had said stay there? That wasn't a warning. That wasn't an order.

That was a verdict.

Ethan leaned back in his chair exhaling slowly. The glow of the laptop screen bathed him in cold light, the transaction record staring back like an accusation.

The money was meaningless. But to Liam?

To Liam, it was a noose tightening around Ethan's neck.

Whoever had sent that footage knew exactly how to drive a wedge between them.

His fingers moved again pulling up the metadata on the video. The routing logs. Masked, but not well enough. He had traced digital breadcrumbs before had covered his own tracks more times than he could count.

This?

This was deliberate. Sloppy in just the right places. Someone wanted him to find the source.

A ghost of a smile crossed his lips.

Elizabeth Kane.

She always knew how to kill a man without pulling the trigger herself.

The question that gnawed at him wasn't just why?

It was how deep did this go?

He reached for the gun at his desk, fingers sliding over the cool metal flipping the chamber open. Checking the rounds.

He wasn't paranoid. Not usually.

But tonight wasn't usual.

Tonight he had been set up.

A knock at the door.

Soft. Measured.

Not the sound of an ambush. Not hesitation, either.

Something worse.

Ethan stood slowly every movement precise controlled. His hand tightened around the gun his other reaching for the handle. He didn't open it right away.

Another knock.

A breath.

Then with deliberate slowness he twisted the handle and pulled the door open just enough to see....

His stomach dropped.

Elizabeth Kane stood there her face unreadable the dim hallway light casting sharp shadows against her features.

She had never looked more dangerous.

"Hello, Ethan" she said softly.

The storm had arrived.