I should have known better than to trust Steven. He’d been spiralling for months. Underground gambling, shady loans, and promises he could never keep. But he was still my best friend, the one who’d had my back since we were kids. When he called me at midnight, voice shaking with real fear, begging me to meet him at the old warehouse on the outskirts of the city, I went. No questions asked.

“Peter, I’m so sorry,” he whispered when I stepped inside the dimly lit space. His eyes darted toward the shadows. “I owe them everything. But I fixed it. I told them you’d… you’d make it right. That you’d be payment.”

The words hit like a punch.

“What the fuck did you do?”

The heavy steel door slammed shut behind me, with a finality that echoed through the empty building. Footsteps approached from the darkness.

Then I noticed five men were approaching. None of them looked familiar.

“Ace,” Steven said to the tallest of them. “I’ve upheld my part of the bargain.”

I noticed that the man he referred to as Ace had a scar cutting through his eyebrow. But the most striking thing about him was his cold, grey-coloured eyes.

Another man grabbed Steven by the collar and shoved him toward the door.

“Your debt is settled. Get the fuck out before we change our minds.”

Steven turned slightly toward me.

“They were going to kill me, Peter. This was the only way. I’m sorry…”

Then Steven ran. The damn coward. The sound of his footsteps faded, leaving me alone with the five unknown men who believed they owned me. I swallowed past the big lump in my throat.

What the fuck had I got myself into? And what did he mean by me being payment?