Chapter 4: The North Brownstone
The brownstone was located on a quiet, tree-lined side street far away from the flashing neon and glass towers of downtown. Inside, the air smelled of old paper, polished mahogany, and rain. It was a fortress disguised as a home, fitted with heavy iron window latches and a reinforced steel-core front door that locked with three distinct mechanical thuds behind us.
Leo sat on a deep leather sofa in the living room, a mug of hot tea clutched between his trembling hands. When the front door opened and I stepped into the foyer, his head snapped up.
"Sela!" He scrambled off the couch, dropping the mug onto a thick wool rug with a dull thud, and ran across the room to wrap his arms around me.
"Leo," I sobbed into his shoulder, holding him as tight as my bandaged hands would allow. "Are you alright? Did they touch you?"
"I was studying in the stacks, and these two guys in suits tried to grab my arm," he mumbled, his voice muffled against my collar. "Then these other guys—big guys, wearing gray jackets—pulled me away, told me to get in an SUV, and brought me here. Sela, what's going on? Who are these people?"
"You're safe now," a deep voice rumbled from the doorway.
Leo flinched, stepping back slightly as Dante walked into the room, shedding his overcoat to reveal the black silk shirt underneath. The contrast between my younger brother—skinny, wearing a faded college hoodie and wire-rimmed glasses—and Dante Vance was staggering.
"Mr. Vance arranged all of this," I said quietly, wiping a stray tear from my cheek. "He brought us here."
Dante walked over to the oak bookshelf lining the far wall, pulling a thick leather-bound ledger from behind a row of encyclopedias. He tossed it onto the coffee table in front of us. It landed with a heavy, ominous thud.
"Your loan wasn't an accident, Leo," Dante said, leaning his hip against the edge of the table and looking down at my brother. "It was predatory paper. Issued by a shell company registered out of the Caymans, but cleared through domestic accounts managed right here in the hotel where your sister works."
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Leo stared at the ledger, bewildered. "I... I just needed enough for the semester balance. The online portal approved it in five minutes."
"Because Gable set it up," Dante continued, his voice dangerously low. "He finds vulnerable students working in his hospitality staff, funnels them into high-interest debt traps, and uses their families for leverage when the loans default. It's a localized extortion ring."
