Joel's face paled. "Shit. Shit! I shouldn't have jinxed it!"
They could see different shapes began emerging from the darkness.
One by one, they stepped into the dim glow of the streetlights.
From behind parked cars, from the far corners of the lot, from the shadows cast by the building's walls.
A dozen of them, maybe more.
They moved without a sound, as if the night itself had given birth to them.
In seconds, Nova's group found themselves surrounded. A loose but deliberate circle, tightening with each passing moment.
No mistaking it now, the flat tires weren't just sabotage. It was a full-blown ambush.
Nova let out a long sigh., his hands dropping loosely to his sides. "Well… here's the hiccup."
"I knew it," Joel muttered under his breath. "That plan wasn't that good…"
Nova slowly turned his head toward him. He was right beside Joel.
So, he heard everything.
He tilted his head slightly and gave Joel a sharp look.
"You're saying that now?" Nova's voice was calm, but there was an edge to it.
Joel stiffened slightly. He could hear the threat hidden in Nova's tone. So, he moved a few steps away from Nova while saying, "I mean…hey, it was... it was good until it wasn't."
Nova could only silently stare at Joel, who was now half-hiding behind Trev like a child pretending he didn't do anything.
But he didn't have time to deal with Joel's antics.
They had bigger problems.
"What now, boss?" Luca asked, already reaching into his pocket, fingers brushing the edge of his phone.
"Call for backup, I guess," Mari said with a low voice from the side.
Luca looked to Nova, who only gave a single nod.
Luca didn't say a word back, he just pressed a button in his coat. His phone vibrated like crazy, the screen lighting up with a blinking prompt that says, Sending location…
Clearly, this wasn't the first time they'd had to hit the emergency signal.
"What do you want?" Nova asked, his voice cutting through the tense atmosphere. He noticed they surrounded them but weren't attacking… for now.
Silence.
The man in the front didn't respond. He just stared, like the others, all of them still, like statues waiting for a signal.
Then without warning, lights blinded them for a few seconds, then a sleek black car glided forward. It rolled to a stop just ahead of them.
The man in the suit stepped toward it.
The windows lowered with a smooth hiss.
And then they heard it, two voices from inside the car. One was a deep, voice of an old man. The other, soft and sweet, almost sounding innocent.
"Who was it?"
"That's him daddy."
The woman in the car leaned forward, just enough for them to see her delicate hand pointing, and a sliver of her face.
"Shit," someone muttered.
All eyes followed the direction of her finger.
It was aimed straight at Joel.
"He was the one!" she said sweetly. "He stole all my money, Daddy."
Joel was stunned, recognizing the woman from the blackjack table. His voice cracked as he shouted, "What!? I… I didn't scam you!"
"Yes, you did! You took all my chips when I was winning!"
Joel sputtered, "When did I do that?!"
Nova and the others slowly turned to look at him, expressions morphing from confusion to cold, silent blame.
"I didn't do it! I'm not a thief, guys!" Joel protested, he raised his hand in plea.
But truthfully, no one cared whether he actually did it or not.
What mattered was rather simple.
Joel was the reason they were surrounded. And now, they had to deal with it together.
"Stop lying, you criminal!" the woman cried, her voice trembling. "You were working with the dealer, slamming the table then pushing me away just so you could steal all my chips!"
Joel's jaw dropped. "What!? That didn't happen! I didn't even…"
"He did what!?" the old man's voice thundered from the car, thick with fury. "Did he touch you, my precious baby?"
"Yes, Daddy," she whimpered. "When he slammed the table… he pushed me down and then he grabbed my…"
Her voice cracked as tears rolled down her cheeks. Her tone was pure heartbreak, laced with that "please believe me" desperation.
"my… he grabbed my chests!" she screamed, loud enough to make the entire parking lot wince.
For a split second, the world paused.
Nova and the crew stood frozen, stunned into pure silence.
Joel's mouth hung open, horrified. "WHAT?!"
"You pervert!" Mari hissed, stared condescendingly at Joel.
Luca whispered, "Chests? As in plural?"
Even Trev, who rarely reacted to anything, turned slowly to look at Joel like he started flying in the air.
Nova blinked twice, then rubbed his temples to hide his smirk. "Really, Joel? I've known you since we were kids, and this is the first time I'm hearing about this secret, touchy-feely side of yours."
Nova continued, fanning the flames of the unfolding drama. He knew the girl was full of it, just piling on nonsense, but honestly, it was kind of perfect. Payback landed fast for Joel talking trash about his "not-so-good" plan.
"Cupping a feel under the table, huh? That's a pretty ballsy move, buddy," Nova said, side-eyeing Joel with a smirk.
"She's lying! I swear! I never touched her, I don't even remember slamming the table!" Joel screamed in disbelief.
But none of that mattered now.
Because the way everyone looked at him… it was already too late.
Joel had become Public Enemy Number One.
And it didn't matter if it was true. It was dramatic enough to be believed, especially the old man.
"Such insolence!" the old man roared, his voice shaking with fury as he embraced the weeping woman tightly. "Don't cry, sweetheart. We'll get back everything you lost. They'll pay for this… all of them. You're mine, my baby. Only mine."
He leaned in closer, his voice meant to be a whisper, but it came out a bit too loud.
"These little breasts of yours… are mine alone."
The group froze. Even the wind stopped for bit, like it sensed a great disturbance in the area.
Nova blinked slowly, his mind stop too.
Joel looked like someone had hit him with a bag of bricks.
Mari's soul visibly left her body.
Luca actually took a half-step back, his face pinched with secondhand embarrassment. Even Trev flinched.
The crying woman, however, perked up immediately.
Her fake tears dried up like magic as she looked up at the old man with sparkling eyes and a bright smile. "Yes, my sugar daddy."
The old man nodded proudly, he puffed his chest with pride.
Then, in a snap, his expression twisted in an instant into something far darker, like flipping a switch from creep to killer.
His eyes locked onto Joel.
"I want that man dead!"
His voice echoed through the parking lot like a judge's verdict, and right on cue, the surrounding men tensed.
A breathless pause took over.
Then, one by one, the circle began to close in, footsteps quickening in their direction.
"Oh, come on!" Joel shouted, already bolting behind Trev like a cartoon sidekick. "I didn't even touch anything!"
"You touched something alright," Mari muttered, stepping into position with a crack of her knuckles.
Nova sighed, already rolling his shoulders, his earlier smirk gone.
"Guess talking's off the table," he said under his breath, eyeing the incoming wave.