Chapter 5 #2
“A little harm came to her,” Yuri answered honestly, still praying she might someday overlook the fact that he’d taken a belt to her ass. But why was he even hoping? Did he actually believe he had a chance with her when this was all through? The idea was scoffable.
Jake didn’t fight Yuri. Sweat beaded on his upper lip and forehead and his breath came in jerky pants. “Wh-what do you mean?”
“She’ll be okay if you take care of your debts.” He kept to his usual act. Jake may be Lucy’s brother, but Yuri didn’t owe the guy anything, especially considering he was the asshole who’d put his sister in danger and then didn’t contact her for eight hours.
Freddo drove them to the Blue Turtle and they got out. The morning sun lit up the parking lot, now strewn with evidence of the previous night’s party; paper tickets, cigarette wrappers, and empty liquor bottles from the cheapskates drinking out of their cars instead of buying from the bar.
Jake blinked in confusion. “What are we doing here?”
“Boss wanted to meet here.” Yuri shoved him forward. “Unlock the doors.”
Jake fumbled with his keys, his hands shaking.
He unlocked the padlocked chain on the gate to the patio, then the inner doors, deactivating an alarm system.
“I’ll just get the lights,” Jake mumbled, heading toward the back of the club.
The place was windowless, so the moment the door closed, they were plunged into near blackness, other than a few nightlights.
Yuri trailed at a distance. He wasn’t too worried about Jake going anywhere or trying anything with his sister’s life at stake, but desperate men sometimes did desperate things. He himself was a perfect example.
Jake flicked various lights on at the box in the back of the club, including the harsh, overhead fluorescents. He didn’t look at Yuri as he trudged back to the main room.
The door swung open and Junior, Don Diego’s consiglieri and attorney, came in.
Damn. Yuri had hoped Don Diego would come himself. That Yuri might, for once, get something recorded from the boss. This whole assignment was going down in flames fast.
Junior set his briefcase on a table and snapped it open, pulling out a sheaf of papers. “I took care of selling your club for you.”
Yuri didn’t think it was possible for Jake to go even paler, but he did. Sweat trickled down his temple. “Wh-what do you mean?”
“Just sign here.” Junior tapped the papers, which had sticky note arrows affixed to the signature lines.
Jake skimmed the papers. “I’m selling you the club for forty grand? The liquor license alone is worth that.”
Junior stared at him. “You need forty grand. I found you a buyer. Or do you want to tell the don you don’t have his money?”
“No, no.” Jake shook his head rapidly. “I’m not saying that. But this isn’t a fair deal. Why can’t I sign over a portion of the club for forty large?”
“Your choice.” Junior picked up the papers and chucked them in his briefcase.
“Wait—wait! Okay, I’ll sign, I’ll sign. But you gotta let my sister go first.”
“You don’t make demand,” Yuri growled. “Your sister will be free when the don has his money.” He cracked his knuckles for emphasis.
Jake fumbled with the pen and Junior slid the papers in front of him.
Jake blinked hard at them, like he hoped the words would rearrange themselves into a better proposition.
He swallowed a couple times. His hand shook so badly his signature probably looked nothing like it should, but Yuri had no doubt Junior had smoothed even more dubious transactions through the legal system.
Jake signed his name at least a dozen times, until Junior took the sheaf of papers and stacked them with a satisfied rap.
Junior nodded at Freddo.
Yuri flexed his fingers. He didn’t know what the nod meant.
Were they letting Jake and Lucy free? If so, he’d just fucked his career, forfeited his life as far as Don Diego was concerned, and further damned his soul for nothing.
No—saving his girl from rape wasn’t nothing.
But Leo might not agree with his decision making.
“You might think about leaving town,” Junior said to Jake. “And take your pretty sister with you. The don wouldn’t like it if you were hanging around his new club.”
Jake looked like he was about to pass out. His head wobbled on his neck.
Junior jerked his head at the door. “Get lost.”
“I need to go up to the office to pack my things,” Jake began.
“Get out,” Junior barked, looking meaningfully at Yuri.
Yuri grabbed Jake by the collar and hauled him toward the door, while his mind whirled around what to do. He had nothing on the don, and would get made by Freddo the minute they returned to the hotel.
His life and career over for a girl.
And he’d do it again in a heartbeat.
They left the now destitute Jake standing in the parking lot with the promise that they’d go free his sister. As Yuri walked around to the passenger side of Freddo’s car, he pulled out his phone and sent an SOS message to Leo, their prearranged signal that he needed to be extracted immediately.
If all went as planned, a local cop would be given his coordinates and pull them over, arresting Yuri on felony extradition charges from Atlanta.
He hoped Freddo would then go to the hotel room, realize Yuri had double-crossed them, and call the don.
The don would give him the order to whack Yuri, which would be recorded.
That meant a lot of things would have to go right.
But if anything went wrong, the fall back plan was one he knew all too well—kill or be killed.