Infinite Rebate: I Get Richer Every Time I Spend

The ride to TikTok headquarters passed in near total silence.

No one in the bus spoke. No one even shifted too loudly in their seats. Every man there could feel the mood coming off Tharok like heat. He was wound so tight that the smallest interruption might set him off, so they kept their breathing shallow and their eyes forward, waiting for the trip to end.

When the building finally came into view, the tension only thickened.

The security at the gate recognized the bus immediately. They also recognized the men inside it. The barrier lifted without question. Weapons stayed hidden under jackets and in bags ~ not out of politeness, but because walking into the headquarters openly armed would create a different kind of problem. One by one, they stepped down after Tharok and followed him toward the entrance in a tight, quiet line.

Inside, the lobby carried its usual polished calm. Employees near the front gave small nods and brief bows of greeting as Tharok passed. He didn’t return a single one. His eyes stayed fixed ahead, jaw locked, the dried blood along the side of his face and the gap in his teeth making him look more like a man coming back from a street fight than a professional arriving for a report.

They took the elevator up in the same heavy silence.

When the doors opened on Durnik’s floor, Tharok walked straight to the office and stopped in front of the door. He raised his hand and knocked once.

No answer.

He knocked again.

Then again, harder.

From inside, Durnik’s irritated voice finally cut through.

"Who is it?"

He wasn’t expecting anyone important. From the way he sounded, he clearly thought the night had already been ruined enough.

Tharok took a second before answering.

"...It’s me. Tharok."

There was a pause on the other side. Then Durnik’s voice came back, smoother now, almost pleased.

"Come in."

Tharok pushed the door open slowly and stepped inside.

Durnik’s chair was turned away from the entrance, facing the wall. For a brief moment the older man stayed like that, clearly savoring whatever fantasy he had built in his head. A low, ugly laugh rolled out of him.

"Hahaha... finally."

He spun the chair around with theatrical confidence, ready to enjoy the sight of Gracie broken and delivered~

And froze.

It wasn’t her.

Tharok stood in the middle of the office looking wrecked. Dried blood had crusted along his jaw. The missing tooth left a dark gap every time his mouth shifted. His once-sharp suit was torn, stained, and hanging wrong on his frame. He looked smaller somehow. Beaten down in a way money and status couldn’t hide.

The laugh died in Durnik’s throat.

For a second he just stared, trying to force the image in front of him to make sense. Then the confusion twisted hard into anger.

"Where the fuck is she?" he snarled, rising from the chair. "Where is that bitch?"

Tharok didn’t answer right away.

His throat felt tight, still full of the words Lucas had forced into him. Standing here under Durnik’s glare, he could already feel how badly the next few minutes were going to go.

"She’s not here," he said at last, voice low and rough. "The mission failed."

Durnik stopped mid-step.

"Failed."

He repeated the word like it didn’t belong in his mouth.

"Failed?" His voice climbed fast, disbelief rotting almost immediately into fury. "With all those men? Your whole crew? For one fucking woman ~ and you’re telling me it failed?!"

"There was someone with her," Tharok said quickly, like he needed to get the truth out before the next explosion. "Someone protecting her. He took the first team apart before I even arrived. And when I showed up..."

He hesitated.

Durnik’s eyes narrowed. "When you showed up, what?"

Tharok’s jaw tightened.

"He took me apart too."

For a moment Durnik only stared at him ~ at the blood, the missing tooth, the residual tremor still visible in Tharok’s hands.

Then something in his face split wide open.

"You’re supposed to be the best!" he shouted, closing the distance and shoving Tharok hard in the chest. "I pay you to handle exactly this kind of shit! And you’re telling me some random fuck beat you and your entire crew?!"

Tharok held his ground as best he could, eyes lowered but voice steady enough to finish it.

"He’s not random."

A short breath.

"His name is Lucas."

The name landed in the room like a weight dropped on glass.

"Lucas."

Durnik’s brow furrowed. The anger in his face didn’t disappear, but something else moved underneath it ~ a thin edge of recognition trying to push through the noise in his head. He repeated the name more slowly this time, tasting it.

"Lucas... who?"

For a second his mind reached for the only Lucas he already hated. The same nuisance tied to Switch. The same young bastard who had been getting too much attention lately. The thought alone made his stomach tighten. Then he shoved it aside almost immediately, unwilling to give it shape.

"I don’t know any fucking Lucas," he snapped. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Tharok’s voice dropped lower, as if saying the rest too loudly might bring the man into the room with them.

"He told me to give you a message." A short pause. "Word for word."

Durnik’s eyes sharpened.

"Then fucking say it."

Tharok swallowed hard. His throat still felt tight from the earlier beating, and repeating the words now made them feel heavier than when he first heard them on the lounge floor.

"He said his men came for a woman under his protection... and they left that place broken because of it." Tharok’s voice wavered, but he kept going. "He said I came second, thinking I’d finish what they couldn’t, and I ended up in the same position."

Durnik’s breathing grew louder. His hands kept curling into fists at his sides, over and over, like he couldn’t keep the anger still.

Tharok forced the last part out before his nerves could eat it.

"He said this was him being patient. That it won’t happen twice."

The office went very still.

Then Tharok finished it.

"And he said... tell him I said hello."

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