Leo walked back to the lot. He didn't yell. He knew the rules of the game he’d signed up for. Silas was already hosing down the silver sedan, getting it ready for the next person who needed a second chance—or a third. “Short on the hours?” Silas asked, not looking up. “Short on everything,” Leo admitted.

The "Buy Here, Pay Here" life in Vegas was a specific kind of dance. Every two weeks, Leo didn’t mail a check to a bank in Delaware; he drove back to this gravel lot and handed Silas cash. It was a cycle of survival.

Leo stood in front of a 2014 silver sedan that had seen better days and certainly more owners. He was a shift manager at a diner three miles away, and his bus-riding days were killing his soul. He had two grand in his pocket and a credit score that looked like a room temperature reading.