Chapter 173

GIDEON

The glass in my hand was already the third. Or maybe the fourth. Time blurred when the whiskey burned its way down, numbing everything it touched.

The bar was dim, buzzing with low music and the occasional crack of laughter from strangers who didn’t know me, didn’t care. Perfect. I needed a place where no one looked twice, where I could disappear into the amber haze and let the edges