Chapter 13

“We’ve beenable to get footage of the garage from the night of the break-ins.” Sergei crosses Andrei’s office while shucking off his winter coat. The man would never last a winter back home anymore.

“And?” Andrei looks up from his phone.

“Viktor’s hunch was right. Jimmy Agosti was involved. The two men who did the work were caught last night. I had a conversation with them this morning.” Sergei pours himself a double shot of vodka and downs it before turning away from the bar.

His knuckles are already covered in bruises and swollen. A splatter of blood blots his gray button-down shirt.

“Must have been a good conversation.” I nod to his hands.

He looks down at one as he flexes his fingers. “It’s nothing.”

“I assume the other guy looks worse?” Andrei puts his phone on the desk and leans forward.

Sergei lifts a shoulder. “They feel worse than they look, but they will live.” He frowns over the prospect. The man has been in a sour mood for months; a clean kill might lighten his spirits.

“What did they tell you?” I drop my phone into my lap. It’s almost four o’clock and Marlena hasn’t left the salon all day.

“They work with Jimmy. He told them about our VIP parking and sent them to scout out the cars. They weren’t supposed to break into anything, just check out what sort of inventory they could get from the garage.”

“Why would Michael Agosti allow his nephew to go shopping in our lot?” Andrei asks. We don’t deal with the Italians, and we don’t get involved in their dealings.

It’s the one agreement we have with them. We stick to our own territories. Which means our businesses are off limits to him and his men.

“Maybe he didn’t,” I point out. “Jimmy got sent away for a few years and Michael didn’t do anything to stop that. A simple payoff would have worked. You know how many politicians they have in their pockets. Maybe Jimmy has a grudge about it. Trying to go on his own now, behind his uncle’s back.”

My stomach knots knowing Marlena had anything to do with such dangerous and callous men. Jimmy could have implicated her in his crimes, and she would have been swept off to prison.

An image of her in a cage, withering away behind bars flashes in my mind.

We don’t deal within the law; too much money can be made outside of it. But we aren’t thieves. We don’t steal to make a buck; we broker deals that satisfy all parties.

Anything we sell comes to us through sales channels otherwise unavailable to the common man. But we don’t cower in the dark and pick pockets.

“Did you get the information I wanted?” I broach the subject of Marlena’s dealings with Jimmy and Michael.

“I did.” Sergei nods hard. “You were right there, too. Jimmy blames her for getting pinched years ago. Says she owes him. He’s blackmailing her. She pays him two thousand every two weeks or he’s gonna turn over evidence that she helped lift a car that belonged to the Donato family.”

My jaw tightens. The Donatos are more disgusting than the Agosti family.

“What evidence?” I ask.

“I’m not really sure. It was getting harder to understand them by the time I got around to these questions.” He shrugs again and pours another shot for himself.

“If the Donatos find out about her involvement, it could be dangerous for her.” Andrei locks eyes with me. “They hold grudges, and if she was involved with the Agostis at the time, they could use it as an excuse to make a move against them. The last thing we need is getting involved with the Italians’ little territory disputes.”

“You suggest I leave this alone? Let this scum go after Marlena?” It’s not going to fucking happen. I will take on the Agosti and Donato families together by myself if I need to. She will not be left to deal with this mess on her own.

“Of course not. You wouldn’t even if I did. What I suggest is we get more information. If we go after Jimmy and Michael backs him, we’d be stepping in business that’s not ours. We need to find out if Michael backs this blackmail or if Jimmy is going against Michael.”

“If Marlena is involved in this, then it is my business. I don’t care which Italian I need to take down to fix it.” I have never gone against either of my cousins, but he is not the ruler here. As much as I’d like his strength behind me, I go forward with or without them.

Andrei leans back in his chair and gives a little gesture of his chin toward the door of his office.

“You don’t have to stop talking. I heard most of what you were saying.” Izzy, his new bride, waltzes into the office. “I wasn’t trying to listen in, but I heard Viktor say Marlena’s name.”

“Your friend might be in some trouble.” Andrei stands to welcome his wife with a kiss.

“Why?” She looks at me. “Are you pushing her? I told you, she will only run faster if you push. You have to go easy. She’s like a skittish cat; if you move too fast, she takes off.”

“I don’t think she would like you talking about her that way,” I say, though she’s right. Every time I’ve moved too fast, Marlena reacts by trying to bolt.

“She knows it’s true.” Izzy smiles. “What’s the trouble? I talked to her this afternoon, and she didn’t say anything.”

I arch a brow. “Did she mention me?”

“Only that you forced your way onto the bus this morning.” She laughs. “I can only imagine.”

“You took the bus?” Andrei deadpans. “The CTA bus?”

“It was a compromise.” I shrug.

“A compromise?” Sergei sounds disgusted by the very word.

“What do you know about Marlena’s life before you moved into the apartment across the hall from her?” Andrei asks his wife as he sits back in his seat, pulling her into his lap.

“Not much,” she says. “When I moved in, she was working at Luxe Strands already. She doesn’t really date. She’s had a few fuck buddies.”

I grip the ends of the arms of the chair I’m sitting in. The wood creaks beneath my fists.

“Let’s skip that part. I’m afraid Viktor will break something.” Andrei notes my tension.

“She’s a good friend, Viktor. As far as I know, she has no reason to be in any trouble. After her dad died, she was on her own. Somehow, she managed to get an apartment and wiggled her way into the salon. She’s worked her ass off to get a chair there. I don’t think she’d do anything to jeopardize that.”

I grab my phone, checking her location again. She’s still at the salon.

“She had friends before you knew her; dangerous men,” Andrei fills her in. “They’re looking to make trouble for her now. Viktor is going to do what is best to keep her safe. And you’re not going to get in the way.” He taps her chin. “You won’t get involved.”

“What does that mean?” She narrows her eyes.

“It means I know my cousin as well as myself. At some point that woman might come running here hoping you’ll hide her from him. You will not. Understand?”

Her cheeks redden, and she jumps off his lap.

“You can’t expect me to let Viktor just walk all over her. If she doesn’t want him involved, then she doesn’t have to involve him, Andrei.” She fists her hands on her hips.

“Hmmm.” Andrei steeples his hands and turns his ire to me. “Do you see the trouble you’ve brought here?”

“Your wife is your problem.” I move to my feet. My evening is busy enough without having to deal with my cousins too.

“Wait, I’ll come with you.” Sergei grabs his coat and meets me at the door within a few strides.

“Isolde, stop glaring at me like that,” Andrei orders.

I shut the door behind me as Andrei moves to his feet to go toe to toe with his wife. Good luck to him.

“What are you going to do with your woman?” Sergei asks as we make our way out of the penthouse.

“First, I’m going to find out exactly what Jimmy has on her and how much he wants from her. Then I’ll decide what to do from there. I won’t act against him without you two knowing. But I won’t have her in danger.”

Sergei hits the elevator button with a nod. “Do what you have to to keep her safe. We’ll figure out what to do with Jimmy. I’m tired of the Italians anyway. And now they send men into our garage? No. We shouldn’t tolerate it.” He steps into the elevator.

“I don’t think Agosti knows about that. But when we find out, we have to act. We can’t be seen as weak.”

“Agreed.” He flexes his hands again, groaning at the stiffness I’m sure he’s feeling. “He’ll probably make a call to Andrei about what I did to his little men today, anyway. We should know soon what our next step is.”

I check my phone again. Marlena’s on the move. If I remember the area correctly, she’s headed to the bus stop.

“Are you going to her now?” He jerks his chin toward my phone.

“I have something to do.” I start tapping out a message to one of our trusted men. “I’m sending Igor to pick her up for me.”

“Poor Igor. First babysitting Isolde, and now your girl. Give the man a break already.” Sergei snorts. “This is why I stay single. Women are too much trouble. Better to have a fun time, play hard, fuck harder, and get out.”

The elevator doors slide open, and we step off. I send a message to a personal shopper I’ve used in the past. I don’t typically use her for this sort of thing, but she’ll get it done for me without issue. After I get confirmation from Igor that he’ll take care of what I’ve asked, I put my phone away.

If I give the skittish kitten too much time to react to my plans, she may try to run.

So, we’ll go slow.

At least at first.