The Predator
Age: ~45 (at time of story)
Position: CEO of multiple government contractors
Dominic Williams arrived in a black sedan with windows tinted past legal. His suit cost more than most people’s houses. He looked around Trap’s garage with the expression of someone evaluating an acquisition.
“I don’t make appointments,” he said. “I make opportunities.”
Origins
Dom was from the Fifth Ward too. Same streets as Kale. Different decade. He knew what it felt like to want to matter, to want to be so big that no one could ignore you.
The difference was that he stopped pretending the world would reward him for being good. He started making the world pay him for being necessary.
The Empire
While Kale was building a grassroots operation, Dom was building infrastructure. Government contracts. Prison partnerships. The God Market—spiritual enhancement packages sold through megachurches for those who wanted to experience divine connection.
His knockoff Echo devices flooded the market. They worked at seventy percent fidelity. They were also unstable, prone to corruption, and manufactured without safety protocols.
The Blankers were his legacy too. Bodies walking around with nothing behind the eyes.
The Game
Dom didn’t offer partnership. He offered a choice between partnership and obsolescence.
He used Kale to tamper with a jury, then switched the payload to produce the opposite verdict. He collected proof of Kale’s involvement while walking away clean.
Even from federal prison—four consecutive life sentences—he smiled at the cameras like he knew something. Like he was waiting.
“Everything’s for sale. The only variable is price. The difference between us is that I stopped pretending the world would reward me for being good.”