Page 1 of Johnny

CHAPTER ONE - JOHNNY

Secrets are seductive .

Learning them, knowing them, keeping them. Every bit of it is about seduction.

It’s all lies. We know it’s all lies, they know it’s all lies but no one cares because everyone gets

paid. Everyone gets rich. Everyone gets power.

And power is the only thing that matters.

I learned this about power a long time ago.

It’s not about manipulating people, or buying things, or controlling political outcomes.

Power is all about the ability to live the life you choose.

When you have enough money to tell people no and walk away for the simple reason that you just

don’t want to do something? That’s power.

But here’s the really fucked-up thing about power—you never have enough. Because saying no to

other powerful people? Yeah, it’s not that easy. It comes with consequences.

I’d call it ironic but irony almost implies there’s a joke in there somewhere. And there’s no joke

hiding behind the seductive secrets I’m keeping.

Anyway, it’s not irony. It’s cynicism. It’s a dose of truth. It’s finally coming to terms with

experience and swallowing that bitter pill of realism. Accepting that you’re nothing but a tool they use

to make the machine’s wheels turn.

I should write that down. It’s kinda good.

Right now I’m on a sixty-six-foot Neptunus yacht speeding through the Caribbean towards a

private island owned by the Way, hoping that Charlotte Kane is there, or was there, or there’s some

less-powerful dumbfuck on that island who can point me in the right direction. Because I need her.

This feeling that she’s the key, that she holds some truth inside her that can illuminate my way through

this darkness I find myself in—it’s strong.

And it’s all I’ve got.

The Way does a lot of business in the Caribbean. Most of what I know about it happens in the

Cayman Islands and the Bahamas and revolves around the money. But I’ve heard rumors about the private islands they own and I have GPS coordinates for one of them, so that’s where I’m heading

first.

They do things on these islands. I’ve heard those rumors too. And most of what I’ve heard revolves

around exclusive brothels, invite-only private auctions, and, of course, drugs. When there’s this kind