Ronnie Radke's Arc

Chapter 6 of 7

The drunk fan became Ronnie's first recruit. But one loyal driver did not prove the plan worked. Ronnie needed a way to test whether a convert could hold his secret before he ever showed them fangs. Elena had the idea. They would set a trap. One recruit at a time, he would hand each a small lie and watch where it traveled. They met in the alley behind the venue, under the buzzing pink neon. Elena stood by the dumpsters with her camera bag. The ex-fan waited near the gray door, nervous in his studded leather jacket. "Here's the test," Ronnie said. He pulled the recruit close. "I'm telling you something nobody else knows. I feed on Tuesdays. Always Tuesdays. You tell no one." The recruit nodded fast. It was a lie. The day meant nothing. Elena had planted a different false day with two other recruits. If a rumor surfaced, the specific lie would name the leak. "Smart," Elena said after the man left. "Marked bills. Each one traceable." Then Bruno arrived. He came through the door in a purple jacket stitched with gold, rings flashing on both hands. He stopped when he saw the empty bottle and the fresh posters. His dark eyes moved from Ronnie to Elena and narrowed. "You've been busy," Bruno said. His voice was light. His face was not. "Hiring behind my back. Feeding people secrets." He stepped closer. "I handle your security, Ronnie. Me. Not her." Ronnie held his ground. "I'm building something. You'd have said kill them all." "I'd have kept you alive." Bruno's smile was thin. "One of your pets talks, and we're both ash." Before Ronnie could answer, his phone buzzed. A recruit had texted. Three words: *someone's asking questions.* Ronnie called him. The recruit's voice shook. A stranger at the bar had repeated the lie back to him. The wrong day. Not Tuesday. One of the two false days Elena had seeded with the other recruits. Ronnie hung up. "The test worked," he said. "We know which one leaked. It's one of the two, not him." He looked at Elena. "Narrow it down. Pull the second day." Elena was already typing. "I'll send different footage to each. Whoever's story matches the rumor is the leak." By dawn they had their answer. One recruit, a kid who parked cars, had bragged to a girl. The lie had traveled straight back. Ronnie now had a filter. Feed each convert a unique false fact, then follow it. The leak named itself every time. But the kid had talked. The stranger at the bar still carried the rumor. And Bruno stood in the alley, arms crossed, watching Ronnie build a network he did not control. "You have your little test," Bruno said. "Now you have a loose mouth to close." He turned for the door. "Handle it, or I will."