He was hired to catch a thief, but the truth might get his sister killed.
Writer’s Prompt
The rain in this city doesn’t wash away the filth; it just makes it slick.
I’m Ken Jenette. I bend the rules the way a strong man bends a steel bar. It’s a living. It’s what keeps my PI agency afloat in a town that drowns the honest ones. Mark Owens, the heavy-hitting CEO of Global Trades, hired me for a simple hatchet job: prove his CFO, Will Lancaster, was bleeding the company dry.
Easy money. Except Lancaster wasn’t skimming the corporate accounts. He was stealing Owens’ wife.
That should’ve been an easy payday, too. A few grainy photos of a cheap motel, and I’m out. But the universe loves a dark joke. Owens’ wife—the woman Lancaster was risking everything for—was Marcia. My sister.
Marcia had finally escaped the gutter, married into the high life, and now she was throwing it all away for a guy whose boss owned the judges and the cops. If Owens found out, they wouldn’t just be ruined; they’d disappear.
Now, I’m sitting in my Plymouth, headlights cut, watching the neon sign of the Blue Room blink against the downpour. Inside, Marcia and Lancaster are sharing a booth. In my lap sits my .38 and a burner phone. Owens just texted: “You got the proof yet, Ken? Or do I hire someone to find it for both of us?”
If I lie, Owens finds out and destroys us all. If I give him the truth, he kills Lancaster and drags Marcia into hell.
My fingers hover over the keypad. The neon light turns the rain into drops of blood on my windshield. I have to make a choice, and the clock just ran out.
What happens next? Does Ken burn his sister to save his skin, or does he play a dangerous game with a billionaire? Finish Ken’s story in the comments below.
