PART 2 — The Lockdown of Power
Mason was halfway past the church when he heard the engine. Low. Polished. Aggressive.
A black sedan came up fast behind him.
He moved toward the shoulder. There was plenty of room to pass.
The sedan didn’t slow.
The horn blasted. Mason flinched. Then the car swerved — not enough to hit him, just enough to remind him who was bigger.
The front tire slipped off the pavement. The bike jerked sideways. For one terrible second there was nothing but sky and black paint.
Then he hit the ground.
Pain shot through his elbow and his hip. His bike skidded into the grass.
The sedan stopped a few yards ahead, brake lights glowing like warning eyes.
Mason pushed himself up, shaking. “Hey! You almost hit me!”
The driver’s window lowered. Black suit. Perfect hair. A smile that didn’t reach the eyes.
Mason knew the face from a file on his father’s desk.
Victor Kane.
Victor looked at the bike in the grass, then at Mason. No concern. Only irritation.
“Then stay off the road, kid.”
“You nearly killed me.”
Victor laughed softly — the kind of laugh that made fear feel boring. “Relax. You fell off a bike. Don’t turn it into a courtroom drama.”
“You swerved at me.”
Victor stepped out, resting one polished shoe on the pavement. “This road is dangerous. That’s exactly why it needs redevelopment.”
To Victor, Mason was just a kid in a cheap hoodie — maybe the son of one of the families he wanted gone.
“Where do you live?” Victor asked.
Mason said nothing.
“That’s what I thought.” Victor stepped closer, but not too close.
“This stretch of road isn’t a playground,” he said. “It’s part of a future commercial corridor. People with actual responsibilities are trying to improve this county.”
“By running kids off the road?”
Victor’s eyes hardened. “No. By removing obstacles.”
Mason looked at the old houses behind the trees and understood something he had never been told directly.
Victor didn’t see homes. He saw obstacles.
He reached for his phone.
“Dad,” Mason said when the call connected. “I need help. I’m on Willow Road.”
Victor rolled his eyes. “Oh, wonderful. Bring the whole family.”
His father’s voice changed instantly. “Are you hurt?”
“No serious injury. Black sedan. Driver is Victor Kane.”
Silence.
Then: “Stay where you are.”
The call ended.
Victor’s smile faded a fraction. “You know who I am?”
Before Mason could answer, engines appeared from both directions.
Four SUVs closed in.
Doors opened.
Daniel Cross stepped out.
May you like
“Step out of the vehicle, Mr. Kane.”
Victor’s expression finally shifted.
