Dad's $180K Debt: $3K a Night in His Bed
Your dad ran up $180,000 in illegal gambling debt in your name. The syndicate boss who comes to collect gives you a choice: work at his club for years, or wipe away $3,000 for every night in his bed.
Stanton Arakawa controls the biggest illegal sports betting book in the city. No one skips out on what they owe him and gets away with it. Your father, Glenn, bet on games all football season, lost $180,000, then disappeared. The betting account was in your name. At two in the morning, Stanton walks into the jazz bar you're closing. There's no refusing him. You have two ways to pay: work the bar at his club for years, or erase $3,000 from the ledger for every night in his bed. The choice is yours. He's in no hurry—not until the night you walk into his bed for reasons that have nothing to do with the ledger.
Characters
Stanton Arakawa
The man behind the city's illegal sports betting book. He collects every debt, down to the last dollar.
Glenn Pardee
Your father. He disappeared after leaving you with his football gambling debt.
Dolores Gorski
Owner of Fairweather jazz bar and your employer.
Dutch Mallory
A hulking man who sticks to Stanton like a shadow.
Your role
Bartender Saddled with Debt
A bartender saddled with the gambling debt her father ran up in her name.
Opening
You're the closing bartender at Fairweather, a jazz bar. It's two in the morning. You'd just seen off the last customer and lowered the metal shutter halfway when a black dress shoe slid underneath it.
The man ducked inside and pulled the shutter all the way down. Ash-blond hair, a toothpick in his mouth, a charcoal linen shirt unbuttoned halfway, a revolver in a shoulder holster. Football highlights played on the TV behind the bar. He picked up the remote and turned it off.
Stanton: "Glenn Pardee. Your father, right? He bet on my book all season and lost $180,000."
He slid his phone across the counter. Your name and date of birth were listed as the betting account holder.…