Chapter 3 - THE BLOOD RENT
The basement of the packing plant on 12th Street smelled of stale tobacco, damp concrete, and fear.
Victor Rossi was leaning over a green felt table, tossing two ivory dice against the brick wall, surrounded by eight of his top collectors and heavily armed guards. Money lay piled in the center of the table—thousands of dollars squeezed from the blood and sweat of working-class families across the East Side.
"Come on, snake eyes!" Victor bellowed, slapping his thigh.
The heavy steel security doors at the end of the hall didn't just open; they were blown off their hinges with a deafening crash.
Two of Rossi’s guards reached for their shoulder holsters, but before their hands could touch leather, six men in tailored dark suits filled the room, automatic weapons trained with terrifying precision on every head in the basement.
The dice game stopped dead.
Victor Rossi dropped his hands to his sides, his greasy smile evaporating as the crowd parted to reveal Daniel Mercer walking slowly down the concrete steps.
"Daniel," Victor stammered, swallowing hard as he wiped sweat from his upper lip. "What... what is this? This is my spot. We have an agreement with your captains."
Daniel didn't answer right away. He pulled a chair out from a card table, reversed it, and sat down, resting his chin on his gloved hands as he looked at Rossi.
"You have an agreement that allows you to run numbers and collection in the district, Victor," Daniel said, his voice smooth, low, and terrifyingly calm. "You do not have an agreement that allows your men to terrorize children."
Victor blinked, completely bewildered. "Children? What are you talking about? I don't deal with kids!"
"Susan Carter owes you fifteen thousand dollars," Daniel said.
"Yeah! She's a deadbeat gamble—"
"Susan Carter has a ten-year-old niece named Lily," Daniel interrupted, his tone dropping an octave, freezing the room like a midwinter frost. "Tonight, that ten-year-old girl walked into my supermarket with eleven dollars and forty cents to buy formula for her twin infant brothers. She was short seven dollars and eighty-six cents because you took every dime her aunt had."
Victor’s eyes darted toward his lieutenants, who were sweating under the red laser sights fixed on their chests. "Daniel, come on! How was I supposed to know about her niece?! It's just business!"
"Business," Daniel repeated softly. He reached into his coat, pulled out the crumpled eleven dollars and forty cents, and laid the bills flat on the green felt table. "This is the money Lily Carter gave me tonight. She promised she would pay back the rest when she grew up."
Daniel stood up, stepping closer to Rossi until he was inches from the loan shark's pale face.
"Effective right now," Daniel whispered, "Susan Carter's debt to you is paid in full. If I see one of your collectors within two blocks of 8th Street, I will personally burn every property you own in this city to the ground. Do you understand me?"
"Yes! Yes, Daniel! I understand!" Victor cried out, his knees shaking. "The debt is cleared! It's gone!"
"Good," Daniel said. He looked down at the money on the table. "And to make sure you remember this lesson, you are going to hand over twenty thousand dollars in cash right now."
Victor gasped. "Twenty grand?! For what?!"
"Ten thousand for a college trust fund for Lily Carter," Daniel said evenly. "Ten thousand for medical care for those twin boys. And if you hesitate for three more seconds, the price doubles."
Victor didn't hesitate. He frantically gestured to his accountant, who pulled a thick canvas bag from under the table and handed stacked bills over to Leo.
Daniel took one last look at the groveling loan shark, turned his back, and walked toward the exit. "Let's go, Leo. We have a city to run."
As Daniel's convoy rolled away into the snowstorm, Leo looked back from the passenger seat. "Boss, are you going to keep an eye on that girl?"
"No," Daniel replied, looking out the tinted window at the flickering streetlights. "I'm going to make sure she never has to beg for anything again. Set up a anonymous educational trust. Cover their rent, their food, their healthcare. But don't let her know it comes from me."
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"Why not?"
"Because," Daniel said, his eyes reflecting the dark city lights, "she promised she would repay me someday. I want to see what kind of woman that little girl becomes when the world doesn't crush her first."
