The city felt colder as they moved.
Not weather cold.
War cold.
That kind of cold that crawls through alleys, sits on rooftops, whispers in the wind.
Kane and the crew rolled out in two cars, headlights off, engines low, every man sitting with a silence that felt like prayer.
Even Dimez tied in the backseat, hands bound but not gagged.
Kane wasn't worried about him yelling for help.
Dimez was too busy crying quietly into his shirt.
Tico glanced at Kane from the driver's seat.
"You trust him?"
Kane shook his head.
"I trust the part of him that's scared for his sister. Fear makes people tell the truth."
Tico tightened his grip on the wheel.
"And sometimes fear makes people lie harder."
Kane didn't respond.
Because both were true.
72nd Street The Warehouse
The building was old, metal siding rusted, windows shattered, the kind of place where screams disappear and bodies rot in peace.
Kane studied the perimeter.
One guard on the north side.
Two at the back door.
One on the roof.
Lights low.
Guns visible.
Marlo's crew was sloppy tonight.
Or confident.
Both dangerous.
Kane turned to the boys.
"Positions."
Tico and Brix moved to the back.
Tone circled around to the north wall.
Jito stayed next to Kane too eager to prove himself.
Dimez sat against a wall, hands still tied, eyes red.
"Kane…" he whispered.
Kane didn't look at him.
"Speak."
Dimez swallowed hard.
"If she dead… you can do whatever you want to me. I ain't asking mercy. I just want… I just want to know she didn't die alone."
Kane finally turned.
"A real OG don't let family die alone."
Dimez broke down again.
Jito whispered, "Kane… you think he telling the truth?"
Kane tilted his head, listening to the wind, listening to instinct.
"He's telling the truth about his sister."
Jito blinked. "What about everything else?"
"That," Kane said, "we find out inside."
Kane tapped his earpiece twice the signal.
The boys moved.
Silent.
Precise.
Deadly.
Tone grabbed the north-side guard by the mouth, dragged him into darkness.
Tico and Brix handled the back guards two muffled thuds, two bodies dropped.
The roof guard never saw Kane coming.
Kane yanked him off the ledge without hesitation.
The warehouse was theirs.
Almost.
Kane signaled everyone inside.
Inside the Warehouse
The air stank of mold and gasoline.
Dim lights swung overhead like broken pendulums.
Then they heard it.
A soft whimper.
Faint.
Shaking.
Human.
Dimez's sister.
They followed the sound to a room in the back.
Kane pushed the door open slowly.
There she was tied to a chair, duct tape across her mouth, eyes swollen from crying. Alive.
Dimez choked.
"Mara…"
Kane cut his ropes.
"Get her out. Tico, Brix cover them."
Dimez lifted Mara gently, whispering apologies like prayers.
She grabbed his shirt weakly.
"Kane…" she whispered.
Kane paused.
She knew his name?
"How?" Kane asked.
Her voice cracked.
"Because… Marlo said… he wants you here."
Kane froze.
Tico's eyes widened.
"Oh hell no—"
The warehouse lights clicked off.
Every bulb.
Every switch.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Silence.
Then
CLANG!
The front gate slammed shut.
Tico yelled, "KANE! IT'S A TRAP.
Spotlights exploded to life.
Not inside.
Outside.
Dozens of them.
Pointed straight at the warehouse.
Marlo's voice boomed through a speaker:
"Well, well, well… my star finally showed up."
Kane's jaw tightened.
Tico cursed under his breath.
"IT'S A TRAP!"
Kane didn't blink.
"I know."
Marlo laughed through the speakers, the sound echoing through the metal walls.
"You think I ain't know you'd save the girl? You think I ain't know Dimez would break? You think I didn't watch him cry for a week straight?"
Dimez looked up, eyes wide in horror.
"Oh no…"
Kane stepped forward.
"Marlo… what you want?"
Marlo's tone sharpened.
"You.
I want YOU, Kane.
Block 45 ain't your legacy it's mine to bury."
Then the sound came
Boots.
Dozens of them.
Surrounding the building.
Tico rushed to the window.
"Bro… it's like twenty, maybe thirty of them."
Brix cursed.
"Marlo brought a damn army!"
Jito's voice shook.
"Kane… what do we do?"
Kane inhaled deeply.
The kind of breath a man takes when the path ahead only ends one way with victory or with a coffin.
"We fight smart," Kane said calmly.
"We move disciplined.
We protect each other.
We survive."
He cocked his gun.
"And tonight… we finish this."
The boys steadied themselves.
Dimez handed Mara to Jito, eyes filled with guilt and rage.
"Kane… if I die out here, make sure she gets home."
Kane nodded once.
"No one dying tonight."
Outside, Marlo shouted:
"KAAAAAANE! Come out and face me like a man!"
Kane raised his gun and stepped forward.
Tico grabbed his arm.
"You ain't walking into that alone."
Kane shook his head.
"I ain't walking into it alone."
He looked at all of them:
Tico.
Brix.
Tone.
Jito.
Dimez.
Mara shaking in the corner.
Block 45.
His family.
"This ain't their trap," Kane said.
His voice went cold.
"This is our battlefield."
He kicked open the warehouse door.
And stepped into the lion's den.