Chapter 12—Payton
I should be tired. Or complaining about being sore. But the pills the doctor left are working wonders. I feel as if I slept for days, but a glance at my phone shows it’s only been a few hours.
Taking my time, I rise slowly from the bed and look around, still in awe that Tommy told me to stay in his guest room.
He didn’t even ask. “Instructed” is more like it.
But that’s something I’m learning about Tommy.
He expects people to do as he says. If he wants to know something, he’ll ask; otherwise, he just tells you what to do.
He didn’t want to know if I wanted to stay, just declared it. Which, if asked, I might have said I wanted. I tell myself that it’s only because the thought of going back to my apartment terrifies me right now. I don’t know if they’ll come back, or if they even left.
They wore masks. They could be my neighbors for all I know.
Actually, they must be my neighbors. They knew my habits well enough to know I’d be home.
The more time I think on it, the more I realize it wasn’t random.
Sure, that could have happened, but me opening the door and them immediately pushing me back inside with a punch to the face seems like more than good timing.
They didn’t speak, just hit me, knocked my stuff around, took what they wanted—and left.
My hands tremble again at the thought of what happened, and I shake them out. Standing, I grab the sweater off the desk chair and put it on before leaving the room.
Water on my face. That’s what I need to shred the memory of them hitting me. I might not be able to go back to sleep, but I’d rather be awake and my defenses up than half asleep and have the nightmares bleed over into my dreams.
Voices draw my feet and my attention as I pass the bathroom and head to the end of the hallway. I only mean to peek out. To see who it is and then go back to pretending I’m not here. But I don’t. I can’t. Not after I see who Tommy’s speaking with.
I don’t make a sound, but they notice me anyway.
I hear Tommy call my name, but I can’t do more than blink.
My attack comes back to me full force. Not because I see them standing there, but because of what was stolen.
Something I’d forgotten about until this moment.
That’s what the two other men are here for.
Not for a private dance, but probably to watch me bleed out.
“Payton,” Tommy calls once more, waving me farther into the room.
“I have to pee.”
One of the new men smirks. The other holds my gaze as he says, “We’ll wait.”
My eyes dart to Tommy, who twists his head quickly at the other man’s words before looking back at me. A look that has me stumbling over my feet as I hurry back to the bathroom and shut the door, locking it. Not that it’ll do me any good.
I sit on the toilet and breathe. Hyperventilate, actually. I wish I had a paper bag or something. Time seems to stall as I look at the subway tile across from me. I count the tiles, hoping it’ll calm me.
The double knock on the door has my heart pounding faster. I would question if I’m having a heart attack, but I know I’m too young for that, or so I tell myself. And despite what I want to call this, I know I can’t die from fright alone.
Another knock, and I already know who it is before I open the door.
Tommy.
His eyes take on an edge I’ve never seen before, not that I look that much at him. Just when I see him. And then I can’t take my eyes off him if I can help it.
But there’s nothing friendly about this look. A cold sweat breaks out on my shoulders.
“We should talk.”
I shake my head, but the decision is taken out of my hands when he grabs my wrists. Not hard, but there’s no way to pull free. He leads me from my self-imposed confinement into the living room and on the couch. Next to the two Kings, who I fear more than anything I’ve ever known.
“I take it you didn’t come to see me.” Tommy doesn’t even look at me.
I might be sitting next to him, but I feel cold, even with the sweater on.
He’s sitting open, legs wide with one ankle crossed over the knee of his other leg and his arms spread on the back of the couch, but I feel more distance from him than I have all night.
I shouldn’t be bothered by it, but I am.
“Didn’t even know you owned the place till Dante sent us over. Congrats, by the way,” the one who didn’t smirk earlier says, and Tommy inclines his head at his words.
Not sure if the congratulations are really in order.
His family owns the business, or so he said in his speech on that first day.
But maybe it’s just him taking it over or something?
I mean, he has made changes. Good ones from what I’ve seen.
Better clients coming in, not just the bums off the street.
Not that I can really complain about who comes in, though.
As long as I get paid, I should keep my opinions to myself. And I have.
“You the ones who did that to her face?” Tommy asks as he grabs a drink off the coffee table, sipping it casually.
“Despite what some say, we don’t leave marks unless it’s the permanent kind.
” This from Liam, the smirker, as he grabs his own drink off the table.
There’s a third drink for William, the more serious of the two, but he leaves it untouched.
I’ve only met three of the four Kings before.
Liam, William, and Mason. Alexander was never there when I was.
I don’t know much about them other than what the rumors say.
They call themselves the Kings, and no one really knows why.
When I asked around, I was told they weren’t born with a crown on their head but that they took it from others.
Claimed their land, their people, and their kingdom, carved from the remains of those who tried to keep them down.
All I know is I was desperate when I sought them out that first time. A decision I’ve regretted ever since.
Unlike Tommy, who looks to be in his thirties, the Kings are young. Maybe even as young as me, but you can tell in their eyes that they’ve seen things. Worse than what I have, and I’ve seen some messed-up things.
Liam and William are the collectors. Those who get whatever Alexander, their unofficial leader, wants.
Mason is the wild card and more of the mental psychotic type than anything else.
When I was in the room with him, I swear he stole the heat from everything living and just basked in the glow of hell’s fire at his feet.
“That true?”
It takes a second before I realize Tommy’s asking me, even if he isn’t looking at me.
“Yes. I mean no.”
“Which is it?” His head moves slowly to me. No smile. No hint of a smirk. Scary as hell is what it is.
My words come out quietly, fear taking over various parts of my body. My voice seems to be in hiding. “No, they weren’t the ones who did this. Yes, that’s the truth.” I might not know who attacked me, but I know it wasn’t them. Makes no sense if it was.
Liam chuckles, but I only see him out of the corner of my eye. The rest of me is focused on Tommy. It might seem dumb, but he can reach me. Could strangle me with ease. The others need to at least stand to do so.
Tommy continues to stare at me, waiting for me to tell him more.
“I owe them money.” It’s rushed, but it’s there. And from the flare in his eyes, he heard it.
“How much?”
“Four hundred and twenty thousand,” I tell him, and he doesn’t even flinch at the amount.
“Actually, it’s a bit more than that.”
I turn to look at Liam and see him putting his drink down on the coffee table between us.
“Quite a bit since you made us come and collect,” William says.
“Whaaa?” is all I manage. I’m so baffled that I don’t even get the chance for my life to flash before my eyes when William pulls out a gun. My breath stalls in my chest at the mere sight of it.
“I hardly think a gun is necessary, Will,” Tommy draws out as he looks over at him.
If William is hoping to shock me, it’s working. I’m frozen. Not even my hands are moving.
He shrugs, then puts it away. “It’s been boring lately.”
Even though the gun is gone from view, I can’t move. I can hardly breathe.
“How long have you held her debt for?” Tommy takes a sip of his drink as if he’s asking about the weather and not how long I’ve been tied to loan sharks who aren’t known for being nice.
“Four months,” William supplies as he picks lint off his pants.
I might not be answering anything or talking—hell, I’m hardly breathing—but I’m taking everything in as if I were a bug on the wall, seeing everything, hearing it all.
I swear I can even hear the way William scratches at his suit pants.
It’s so loud to me. I’m either going into shock or developing superpowers.
Whatever it is, I’m unable to do anything but sit and listen.
“She doesn’t seem like your usual client.”
Liam shrugs as he leans back and puts his arms out wide on the back of the couch. “Alexander is branching out.”
“And you coming to collect, that a change in things as well?”
“You know we don’t deal in favors,” William says as if he’s bored by all of this.
“If word got out that we didn’t come and collect, you know how it would go,” Liam adds with a shrug.
“How late is she?” Tommy’s eyes bounce from one man to the next.
“Twelve hours.”
From Tommy’s high eyebrow raise, I guess he didn’t expect that. I did. Hell, I expected death after missing it by a minute. Or I did.
When I sought out the Kings, they terrified me.
But the fear of them was less compared to the fear of being out on the streets.
I had only heard rumors about what happened out there.
I knew I had no life skills and wouldn’t even know how to survive it.
The loan shark seemed the safer of the two.
But when I signed off on the deal, they made it very clear that late payments were not a thing.
Late payments meant double the payment and a limb.
Or something like that. I had been on time—early, actually—for every payment before yesterday.
But then yesterday happened, and my brain forgot how to do much.
I only had one thought, and that was to get out of my apartment and go somewhere.
Since I have zero places to go, work was it.
Once there, well, things with Tommy had my brain focused on other things, and I forgot everything else till I saw the Kings in his living room.
“Seems steep,” Tommy mutters.
William and Liam shrug, but it’s Liam who answers. “Standard. Talk to Bobby. You actually have it set for less time.”
Another high eyebrow, but only one this time.
Not sure whether he’s surprised by whoever this Bobby is or that the Kings know it and he doesn’t.
Or he does and is just surprised they do too.
I’m guessing at everything, but I’m not about to raise my hand to ask a question.
Seems safer to stay quiet and hope that despite them talking about me, they’ll forget I’m here.
“What’s the buyout?”
Liam and William both look at Tommy. So do I, but I haven’t a clue what he’s talking about.
“We’d have to make a call,” Liam replies.
“Not stopping you,” Tommy says before finishing his drink.
Another look passes between them before Liam stands and walks to the elevator, pulling his phone out as he goes. William stretches out on the sectional with wide legs, resting one hand on the back as the other grabs his drink.
“Like the new look.” He nods at Tommy, and I know he’s talking about his neck. The scar there that I only stared at when he wasn’t looking at me. “Ex-girlfriend or ex-partnership?”
“Neither. A brother-in-law issue.”
“Sounds like a fun family reunion. What did he do? Date your sister before he asked for permission?” William says around taking a drink.
“Actually, yeah.” Tommy shrugs as he leans forward and sets his empty glass down. “But it was more to save my nephew from his dad.”
Any type of friendliness William might have had a second ago disappears. He drops the laid-back act and goes stiff, his hand falling from the back of the couch to land beside him as he sits forward and puts his drink back down on the table. “What did he do?”
“Kidnapped the boy to Russia. We went and got him back.” Tommy’s smile is full of evil, sadistic glee at the memory of it.
“Guy still breathing?”
“What do you think?”
My eyes go wide as William nods before he sits back, at ease once again. Unlike me. My breathing seems to have doubled.
Tommy just admitted to… well, nothing, but the implication was there.
That someone got hurt, and he was happy about it.
Sure, kidnapping is wrong, especially of a kid, but hurting a person and smiling over it?
I… I don’t know how I feel about that. And he spoke about it in front of me.
What does that make me? A liability? A loose end?
Or nothing, because nothing else was said?
“Right, so the payment,” Liam says as he walks back in, phone still to his ear. “Ten percent increase. Buyout fee.”
Tommy stands and offers his hand to William, who also stands. “Nice doing business with you. Please come to G-Spot anytime you’re feeling up for a scenery change from your own club. I’d be happy to have you.”
“Might take you up on that. We’ll have the paperwork transferred to Bobby,” William says as Liam turns and talks on the phone once more.
I stay on the couch, rooted to the spot as Tommy leads them to the hallway with the elevator. I hear murmurs, but nothing specific before Tommy comes back into the living room alone.
I don’t even let him get close before I ask. I’m afraid to, but I have to know.
“What was that? What just happened?”
He pulls out his phone and nods at it, typing a few things before looking up at me.
“That, my Crown Jewel, was me buying you. Your debt, and you, belong to me now.”