The Shark Tank.
Drexl sits at the bar of his notorious Red Light establishment, accompanied by a bottle of Arcadia’s finest bourbon.
“Well, well, well… It seems my little birds have been flying the coop. I can’t say I didn’t see it coming. These girls always dream of something better; something more glamorous.”
“But they forget who made their dreams possible in the first place.”
The club is quiet, save for a single stripper dancing on stage seductively for a pair of patrons.
“You’d think their well-being would be of high concern to me; especially given what happened before.”
Drexl grabs the whiskey and takes a healthy drag before slamming the bottle back down on the bar.
“Wrong. The streets are unforgiving, and the world outside these walls isn’t kind to pretty things. What matters to me is the numbers.”
“The balance sheet.”
“The bottom fucking line. Profits are down, and my punters are beginning to disappear as quickly as those whores.”
Drexl’s lip curls.
“In this business, sentimentality is a luxury I cannot afford. If one girl goes, I replace her with two more. There’s always someone willing to take their place.”
“Profit is king, and I won’t let something like a few missing girls stand in my way. If they choose to wander into the darkness beyond my club, then so fucking be it. I’ll find me some new ones as quick as that – eager and hungry to keep me upon the throne of this depraved castle.”
The Real Shark gulps down another big mouthful.
“Hunger? It’s a force that drives us all; an insatiable appetite that courses through everyone’s veins.”
“But it’s not the hunger for flesh or sustenance that consumes me; it’s the hunger for power.”
“For control.”
“For the preservation of my precious empire. Those tantalising sirens who once adorned my stage have vanished into the night, and with them my profits diminish. But this hunger within me is not for their safety or welfare – it’s for the truth.”
“The truth that will save my kingdom from the precipice of financial fucking ruin.”
Drexl clenches his fists; his knuckles whitening with determination.
“I am a predator in a world of prey, and I will not rest until I have unravelled the mystery that shrouds these disappearances. Those responsible think they can outwit me – that my cruelty would blind me to their game – but they underestimate the depth of my hunger.”
“Of my craving for answers.”
Big Slim gazes upon the wall behind the bar adorned with surveillance monitors; each screen a portal to potential suspects.
“The captors may well think they can fuck with my business, but in doing so they have awoken the beast.”
“I desire for the truth, and I will hunt it down – no matter where it hides.”
Drexl leans back in his stool; the fire of his ambition burning bright in his eyes.
“The truth will be my road to salvation; my path to dominance.”
“I shall save my kingdom – not for the sake of those girls – but because it is what I long for most.”
“Power.”
“Control.”
A final sip and an exhalation.
“And the sweet satisfaction of victory.”