The Dangerous Deal: A Crime Fiction Novel

Detective Marcus Kane stood at the edge of the rooftop, the city sprawling beneath him like a circuit board of lights and shadows. The wind whipped through his dark hair as he stared down at the neon glow of the casino district, where fortunes were won and lost every night. Somewhere in that maze of temptation, his brother Tommy had made the mistake that would cost him everything.

The call had come at three in the morning, jolting Marcus from a restless sleep. Tommy's voice, usually confident and smooth, trembled with desperation. "Marcus, I need help. I've done something stupid, and now they're going to kill me." The line had gone dead before Marcus could respond, leaving him with nothing but the echo of fear in his brother's voice and the weight of dread settling in his stomach.

Marcus had tried calling back dozens of times, but Tommy's phone went straight to voicemail. He'd driven to Tommy's apartment, finding it empty except for signs of a hasty departure: clothes scattered on the floor, drawers pulled open, and a half-eaten sandwich abandoned on the kitchen counter. The only clue was a matchbook from the Royal Flush Casino, the most exclusive gambling establishment in the city.

Now, twelve hours later, Marcus found himself preparing to enter a world he'd spent his entire career trying to shut down. As a detective in the organized crime unit, he knew the dangers that lurked behind the velvet ropes and golden facades of the high-stakes gambling world. But Tommy was his only family, the younger brother he'd raised after their parents died in a car accident when Marcus was just twenty-two.