Merchant Venice Beach / Season 1, Episode 10
Blood on the Boardwalk
Episode 10: Blood on the Boardwalk The scar glints under the neon haze, a jagged white line cutting across the man’s cheek like a warning carved into flesh. Sol’s breath catches, a sharp hitch in his chest, as he clocks Elias Carver stepping out of the shadows near the boardwalk’s edge. The man moves with a predator’s ease, shoulders rolled back, hands loose at his sides but ready to snap into fists. He’s taller than Sol expected, broader too, with a face that looks like it’s been broken and reset wrong one too many times. The air around him hums with a quiet menace, the kind that makes the drunks and street artists lingering nearby scatter without even looking twice. Sol presses himself flatter against the graffiti-smeared wall of the arcade, the brick rough and cool against his palm. His pulse hammers in his ears, louder than the crash of waves just beyond the strip. Mira’s beside him, her breath shallow, her fingers twitching like she’s itching to grab the switchblade tucked in her jacket. They’re tucked just out of sight, hidden by a stack of overturned crates and the flickering glow of a busted streetlamp. But if Carver turns his head just a fraction, if his eyes catch the glint of Sol’s watch or Mira’s silver hoop earring, they’re...