James Garcia was notorious.
Not just feared—notorious. The ruthless leader of the Phantom Gang. A man who built his empire on loyalty, blood, and the promise that betrayal would never go unanswered.
And once upon a time, he and my father had been partners.
The Black Knights and the Phantom Gang weren't always enemies. There was a time when their alliance ran deep—when my dad and Garcia built something powerful together. They rose through the ranks side by side. Trusted each other. Protected each other.
Until my father chose something else.
He walked away from the chaos. Married my mother. Had children. Tried to build a life that didn't involve blood on his hands.
Garcia didn't forgive that.
When my dad stepped out, he didn't just abandon the life—he disrupted it. Deals collapsed. Enemies shifted. And somewhere in the fallout, a debt remained unpaid.
Garcia never forgets a debt.
And he never forgets betrayal.
Tonight wasn't random. The man outside the club wasn't some drunk idiot looking for trouble. He was a message. A reminder that the Phantom Gang was still watching.
That we were still marked.
⸻
By the time I pulled into the driveway, my hands were gripping the steering wheel hard enough to ache.
This wasn't a shadow anymore.
It was here.
Inside the house.
In my life.
I went straight to my dad's study.
The door was half-closed. Light spilled through the crack. I knocked once.
"Come in, sweetie."
He sounded calm.
Too calm.
I stepped inside. He was behind his desk, papers spread out in front of him like always. Controlled. Calculated. Unshaken.
But when he finally looked up at me, something in his eyes shifted.
"How was your night?"
I didn't sit back. I leaned forward.
"James Garcia sent men after me."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
His jaw tightened.
"I know."
The words hit harder than the attack.
"You knew?" My voice stayed steady, but barely. "And you didn't tell me?"
"I was handling it."
"Handling it?" I let out a short, humorless laugh. "I was nearly grabbed in a parking lot."
His fingers pressed together on the desk. "You shouldn't have been out."
"There it is," I snapped. "Blame me."
His eyes darkened. "This is my war, Stella."
"No," I shot back. "It stopped being just yours the moment Mom died. The moment Luca disappeared."
That landed.
For a second, he looked tired. Older than I'd ever seen him.
"Garcia wants me to pay," he said quietly. "And if he can't hurt me directly, he'll go through you."
YOU ARE READING
Dancing with a stranger
Teen FictionStella was born into the black Knights gang. Her mother was killed and her brother was kidnapped. with her father being the only one left in her family and her best friend now joining. At 21 now she's willing to stop at nothing to figure out what ha...
