The $1,480 felt different from any other money Ace had ever held. It wasn't like the desperate handful of cash he got from begging, a nerve-wracking win from a risky stock gamble, or even the dirty payment from a corrupt official. This money was a calculated return on work he had actually delivered. As he had told Evelyn, it was like their own venture capital. The envelope sat on the workbench between them, representing both a promise for the future and a challenge to build something new.
Evelyn finished counting the money for the third time with a satisfied smirk on her face. "It's one thousand, four hundred, and eighty dollars," she said. "That's every single cent Ramos owed you for exposing Lenoid Petrovich and Kovac. I bet Marcus was absolutely furious after you confronted him."
