Caleb had his hand on his gun, tension rippling through his frame like a coiled spring. Kalisa stood just behind him, heart pounding against her ribs.
It was Justin.
Soaked from the rain, breathless, and visibly shaken, he stepped into the apartment like a man chased by shadows. His eyes darted between them, first to Caleb, then to Kalisa. He was actually in shock as he was not expecting to meet Caleb at Kalisa's place. He knew he was in an awkward position.
"You?" Caleb's voice was sharp, accusatory, his hand still hovering near his weapon. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Kalisa's brows knitted in confusion as she turned to Caleb. "Wait… you know Justin?"
Caleb didn't hesitate. His voice dropped an octave, firm and cold. "Of course I do. I'm a detective. Justin's a wanted con artist with a dozen scams under his belt." Caleb hid the fact that Justin was also his informant. No detective would want to reveal the identity of the source of their information to the dark happenings of the dark world.
Justin raised his hands, as if to slow them both down. "Yeah, yeah, save it, Detective. This isn't the time."
Kalisa blinked in disbelief, stepping back as the two men squared off. "What is happening right now?"
Justin's eyes locked onto hers with urgency. "Kali, listen to me, Don Khan has placed a hit on you. You're in danger. Real danger."
Her breath caught. "What?" looking directly at Justin. "Don't tell me Don Khan got to you?"
Caleb stepped between them, sceptical and hostile. "Why should we believe anything you say?" pointing to Justin.
Justin shook his head. "Because I don't want her dead. Because this has gone way past what I signed up for."
Kalisa's voice was quieter now, but edged with rising panic. "Why would Don Khan want me dead?"
Justin's expression darkened. "Because you stole his wallet. And he thinks you still have it."
"I don't have it," she said quickly, but even she could hear the lie in her voice.
Caleb noticed it too. His eyes narrowed.
Justin's jaw clenched. "Kali, if you're lying to me, you'll be buried before morning. This is Don Khan. He doesn't leave loose ends."
Caleb turned to her slowly, his voice heavy with disappointment. "You've been lying to me… all this time."
Kalisa opened her mouth, but no words came. The walls around her world were beginning to close in.
Justin took a cautious step forward, his tone softening. "I didn't come here to fight. I came here because you need to run. Or fix this, and whatever you choose to do, you need to do it fast. Because Don Khan doesn't just threaten."
The room was silent for a moment.
Then Caleb said flatly, "If you know where the wallet is… now is the time to speak."
Kalisa's lips parted, torn between truth and survival.
"I have said severally that I don't have it. I went to the place where I hid it when I was shot, and it was gone. Someone had gone ahead of me and taken it," Kalisa lamented. But this time she sounded convincing enough.
"Who else knew you hid it?" asked Caleb.
Kalisa looked at Justin as if to say she was suspecting him before she said, "No one. I never told anyone."
Justin fired back. "I know that look, and you and I know I have nothing to do with the wallet missing where you hid it."
"Hmm, this is getting interesting," Caleb said.
Justin paced the floor like a man being hunted, his soaked jacket dripping onto the tiles. "Kalisa," he said, his voice tight and urgent, "you need to leave town". Tonight."
"No," Caleb said firmly, folding his arms, unmoving. "She stays. I'm a detective. I can protect her."
Kalisa sat on the edge of the couch, arms crossed, trying to appear calm, but her knuckles were white. "I'm not going anywhere," she said evenly. "My mother is sick. She has a medical condition and needs care, my care!. I can't just abandon her."
Justin's hands balled into fists. "Then you need to return the wallet. That's your only option."
Caleb's head slowly turned toward her, his eyes sharpening, searching. "Can you return the wallet?"
She stiffened.
"Kalisa…" Caleb said, the weight in his voice demanding an answer.
She met his eyes with practised defiance. "I told you. I don't have Don Khan's wallet."
"That's not what this is about anymore," Justin interrupted, his voice rising. "It doesn't matter if you have it or not. Don Khan thinks you do. And he's placed a hit on you."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Then—
"You're wrong."
The voice was quiet, calm, but it froze the room.
It was Lisa.
They had almost forgotten she was there, seated quietly in the far corner like a shadow, until now.
All three heads turned toward her.
Lisa stood slowly, her face pale, her gaze steady as she looked at Justin, then Caleb. "Don Khan won't kill Kalisa," she said, her voice trembling slightly. "Not yet."
Justin blinked. "What are you talking about?"
"Because," Lisa said, stepping forward now, "he needs her. He believes she can get the wallet back. And until he's sure she's failed… he'll wait."
Kalisa's heart sank. "You knew?"
"I've been listening," her mother replied, eyes flashing with rare intensity. "You think I wouldn't notice my daughter coming home with a gunshot wound? Or hiding when a man like Caleb appears at her doorstep?"
Caleb was stunned, but he quickly seized the moment. "Why does Don Khan want the wallet so badly?" he asked. "What's in it?"
Lisa hesitated. "That, I believe only Don Khan and maybe Kalisa can tell."
Then she looked at Kalisa. "You need to tell them the truth."
Kalisa opened her mouth, then shut it again. The lie had been easy before. Now it burned.
Justin's eyes narrowed. "If you don't talk, Kalisa, you're as good as dead. Don Khan doesn't forgive."
Caleb leaned forward, voice low. "Talk to me. I'm trying to help you."
Kalisa looked at them all. The rain, the rising tension, her mother's serious face, Justin's panic, Caleb's suspicion, it was all pressing in on her. She felt like she was being suffocated from every side.
"I told you," she said again, more quietly this time. "I don't have the wallet."
Justin scoffed. "It's not about possession anymore. It's about belief. Don Khan thinks you know where it is. And he thinks whatever's in that wallet is worth killing for."
Lisa swallowed hard, her voice a hoarse whisper. "He's right."
Everyone looked at her.
"There's something in that wallet," Lisa said. "Something… I don't know exactly what, but I am sure it's not money or cards."
Caleb's expression changed. His hand instinctively went to his pocket where his wallet was tucked, as if to reassure himself.
Justin's voice dropped. "That explains why he's not sending his usual cleanup crew. He's waiting. Watching."
Kalisa clenched her jaw. "But what if I really don't have it?"
Lisa stared at her. "Then pray he never finds out where it really is."
"Can't you just arrest him?" she asked, turning to Caleb with tired, bitter eyes. "Isn't that what the police do? You throw handcuffs on people like Don Khan and drag them into the light."
Caleb sighed heavily, dragging a hand down his face. He didn't look at her when he answered.
"It's not that simple."
Kalisa narrowed her eyes. "Why not?"
"Because Don Khan doesn't leave fingerprints. He doesn't get his hands dirty. He doesn't make phone calls or sign documents. Everything goes through layers of people who vanish before you can question them. Even when we know it's him, we can't prove it." He looked at her now, eyes sharp. "He's been arrested twice. Both times, he walked. You want to know why?"
She said nothing.
"Because the moment we got him, witnesses disappeared. Evidence burned. Judges recused themselves. The man is untouchable."
Justin, who had been pacing again, stopped short. "That's what I was trying to tell her. Kalisa, you're not thinking straight. You can't do this alone. You can't go against the Mafia."
Kalisa rose to her feet slowly, her jaw clenched, her back straight. "You think I don't know that?"
Justin stepped closer, his voice trembling with a mix of anger and fear. "Then why are you acting like you're invincible? Why won't you just give up the damn wallet?"
She looked at both of them now, her voice low and cold. "Because the moment I give it up, I'm dead."
That silenced them both.
"I've seen what people like Don Khan do to loose ends," she said, her voice brittle. "I've watched the fear in people's eyes. I've heard the warnings. That wallet doesn't just contain some ordinary things, it contains power. Secrets. Something men like him will never allow to fall into the wrong hands."
Caleb's expression tightened. "So what? You think holding on to it will protect you?"
"No," she said. But at least it gives me leverage. But like I said, I don't have it."
Justin shook his head, swallowing hard. "You're playing a dangerous game, Kalisa."
"I've been in this game since the day I took that job," she snapped. "There's no walking away now. No safe option. Only survival."
Justin's shoulders slumped as the weight of her words sank in. Then he looked at her, desperation written across his face. "Then what do we do?"
Kalisa's eyes flicked between them, lingering on Caleb, then Justin.
"We buy time," she said quietly. "We find out exactly what's in that wallet, and why it matters. We find someone who can explain what Don Khan wants. And maybe… just maybe… we find a way to use it before he uses me."
Caleb rubbed his temples, frustration written all over him. "You're risking everything."
Kalisa walked toward the window, staring out into the night. "I already have."