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⚠️ Warning: drinks being spiked, blood, knife, needle (check other warnings at the start of the book)
"For fucks sake!" Michael shouted, slamming the lid of his laptop and shoved it across the table top with force. With his arms crossed behind his head, he screamed.
As he scrolled through national and local news, today's mission was to suss out the severity of the shooting at the nightclub. At first, things didn't seem too bad, 'corrupt bouncer shot dead at nightclub'. Luckily for them, this made things easier. People disregarded the news and it didn't harm the business as much as other things, for example 'student shot dead in nightclub' wouldn't bode well.
However, the third article sent a paralytic jolt through him. In all the years of being in New York, after everything they had been through, never once had they been featured in a new article.
The article featured Mr Irwin's name and questioned the safety of the strip for university students. They had used pictures from the club, easily tarnishing their reputation.
Whilst he raged at the situation downstairs, Ashton was experiencing something similar in his office.
They weren't a gang of any sorts, a band of brothers, if it really had to be labeled, trying to survive. His pure intentions for the club was nothing more than business. It was innocently bought and innocently intended. He should have known that nothing good lasts.
Michael was an excellent DJ and he kept to himself whilst working and this mirrored into his free time. He spent a lot of time in his room mixing and creating tracks. He wasn't as social as the others, he didn't crave anymore than what was in his life now.
Despite Ashton's wishes, he kept in contact with his mom and dad. They meant a great deal to him and he knew that with him being an only child, he meant a lot to them. Every so often, he called them and updated them on his DJing and kept things above the surface.
Calum on the other hand, didn't have this luxury. Nobody truly knew the extent of his miserable upbringing as it wasn't a topic he was particularly fond of discussing at length. He was thankful for the day Michael sat with him one day for lunch at school. Michael was his first lifeline.
His life was starkly empty and mundane when they first moved to the big apple. He didn't have a purpose after their failed attempt at becoming a successful band, so he spent all of his hours in the gym. Ashton offering him a job as a bouncer was his second lifeline.
Having an employee shot let alone being shot on premise during opening hours was bad even for his standards.
The casino was owned by the Garcia clan and at the head was Tobias Garcia, a powerful ex convicted. As far as the public knew, Garcia was involved in money laundering. However, if they had their ear to the ground, like Ashton did, they would also discover drug trafficking and middle aged men living as if they were 1940s mafia; strong liquor, quality opium and cheap company.
