Chapter 4

"Well, well, you finally scraped together the cash? Too bad my hand slipped and the urn got smashed," the loan shark with a scarred face sneered, kicking a broken urn toward my feet. The gray ashes instantly mixed with the mud and rainwater.

"Drop the money and get lost."

I crashed to my knees in the filthy mud, my hands still bleeding as I frantically tried to gather up the rain-soaked ashes, desperate not to let a single bit slip away.

Dragging my battered body back to the basement, I set the mud-stained urn on the table, my arms trembling…