He smiled. “’Course it is. Sales of shares have to be regulated, but we’re only selling options to buy.” His eyes twinkled and it made her stomach flip. “Actual trades will go through a broker. This is more fun, though. Don’t you think?”
The auctioneer opened bidding on the first lot. Cane waved his hand immediately. As the bidding rose, Cane’s hand was in the air like a skinny flagpole on a stormy day. The men around him were plainly getting irritated. He didn’t seem to even know what he was doing.
Eventually, the auctioneer said, “Sir? Sir, I’m sorry to ask, but do you know what the bid is?”
Cane sprawled and squirmed in his chair. Almost unintelligibly, he said, “I have to bid.”
The auctioneer shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t accept a bid if you aren’t fully aware of what it is that you’re doing. It wouldn’t be right. Wouldn’t be legal, neither.”
With the gavel raised, he said, “With regret, sir, I’ll give you one more chance to describe the lot and tell me where the bid stands. If you can’t do that, I’ll have to cancel your bids and ask you to leave the sales floor. It’s with you.”
Cane shouted incoherently as Calhoun helped him to his feet. He waved his arms as he was guided to the door, and Calhoun accompanied him out.
Pierce steered her from the room, away from the crowds. Princess was surprised. She thought the sale had gone well and he would want to celebrate. He guided her into a quiet and empty alcove.
“Cane seemed drunk,” Princess whispered as they slid into the corner of the booth. “Like really, wildly drunk.” The innocent way Agostini shrugged made her sure that he knew exactly what had happened.
Part III
Agostini looked up as Calhoun burst in on them. He faltered and paused, like he was taking a moment to set his face straight. Calhoun had seen Agostini with women often enough in the past, and in far more advanced states of congress. Here there was nothing happening. Why was Calhoun fighting to keep a grin off his face?
His voice rose over the distant, muffled thud of the music. “Sorry, boss.” and he cleared his throat.
Agostini knew that it was different, though, and the fact that Calhoun could see it unsettled him even more.
Agostini said, “Well?”
Calhoun said, “Well, we seen Dino being led out into Yvgeny’s SUV.” Agostini felt Princess’s muscles tense up against him. “Then he was driven away.” She moved closer in and pressed her body into him. He knew that she could feel the trouble brewing.
He said, “You’re sure that it was Dino?”
“Ah, even on a big club night like this, you can’t really mistake the way that Dino dresses, can you?” That much was true.
“And you’re sure it was Yvgeny’s car?”
“Yeah, I know the number. Took a snap of the plate.” He showed Agostini his phone. Agostini knew the Hummer and he recognized the plate.
“Okay.” Agostini turned to Princess. The flicker in her wet eyes stirred him. He lowered his voice. “Look, I might need Calhoun and Callaghan. This may be nothing serious, but I can’t tell yet. Can you get a cab back to the apartment and wait for us there?”
She pouted. “If you want me to act like a captive, then I expect to be treated like one. I should at least be escorted. Otherwise, why wouldn’t I just escape?”
Was she serious? He looked hard at her while he considered it. “If you did that, where would you escape to?”
She frowned. “Back here, I suppose.”
He wasn’t sure what was going on in her head, but he didn’t have the time to try and second-guess her. “Callaghan,” he said, “bring the car to the rear entrance. It will be quicker.”
Princess said, “We don’t have a rear entrance.”
“You didn’t. I do. I had one put in.” He moved behind her, put his arm around her waist and lifted her.
“No!” she shouted as she tried to kick and swing her arms behind her. “Not this again!”
“You should be more careful about those mixed messages, Princess.” He carried her, struggling and shouting, through the clatter of the kitchens. The cook and two busboys tried not to laugh. Then, when they saw the look on his face, their eyes fled away like bad dogs caught in the pantry, their heads down, pretending they were busy doing something else entirely.
He carried her up the short stair to the goods door. There was no knowing what she’d do if he put her down, so he waited with her under his arm by the entrance in the cool, quiet back alleyway.
She yelled, “You can put me down now,” still thrashing her arms and legs.
“No, I think I’ll do as you said and treat you as a captive. At least for a while longer.” If she wanted to be pissed, he’d let her. He needed to stay focused on Dino.
The man could look after himself just fine and there probably was nothing to worry about. Yvgeny’s whole purpose was, as likely as not, simply to make Pierce follow him, to make Pierce show his response, but he knew he couldn’t afford to put a foot wrong.
Leaving Princess on the loose could be dangerous and unpredictable in too many ways. Some he didn’t even want to consider right now. He told himself that he was only concerned about her value to him as a hostage.
As Callaghan reversed the black SUV down the alleyway to stop in front of him, and with Princess still flailing under his arm, Agostini leaned in the front window and told Calhoun, “You stay at the club. Make sure that it closes, that everything’s intact, and all the staff are out. Then call me as soon as you can.”
“No worries,” Calhoun said, heading back into Hotsteppa’s through the rear entry.
The back door of the car clicked open and Agostini slung Princess onto the back seat, then clambered in after her. She still pouted, but she was subdued for the moment. Agostini’s hunch was that she would understand how serious the situation was and she would be an asset.
He hoped that was how it would go. If he was wrong about that, he could have some real trouble on his hands. This was the time to think about resources and options. Not consequences.
Callaghan said, “Where are we heading, Boss?”
“Yvgeny has a place off the east side of Union Square. Point us that way while I try and call Dino.” Agostini worked the phone. Three times he heard Dino’s recorded voicemail greeting.
Princess was quiet with her sullen face against the window as Callaghan slewed and cut a smooth dash through the Manhattan night traffic.
Callaghan took a right off Broadway and Yvgeny’s apartment was about three blocks ahead when Princess pointed through the window and said, “Isn’t that Yvgeny’s car?”
Agostini’s head whipped around as they passed the matte black Hummer, parked up on an unlit patch of the street. “Pull up, Callaghan.”
On the other side of the street from the Hummer was a diner with a Russian name, the only lit windows on the street. As they passed and Callaghan was parking, Agostini saw two figures at a table in the center. Yvgeny on the left and Dino to the right.
Agostini gripped the door handle, ready to step out backwards, and told Princess, “Stay with me. Keep close and be ready to duck behind me.”
She frowned. “Won’t it be safer if I wait in the car?”
“No. Not without someone to guard you.”
“What’s going to happen?” He pulled her along behind him, held her hand. Firm, not too hard. His voice was low.
“If I knew that, I wouldn’t just say to keep close. I’d tell you where to stand.”
As they all got out of the car, Calhoun called and said the club was all closed up. They crossed the street slowly as Agostini gave him the address of the diner.
She, Agostini, and Callaghan crossed the street. Light spilled out of the diner onto them. Princess felt exposed and she moved more behind Agostini. Inside, Dino and Yvgeny, hunched over the table, were the only people visible.
The wide dining room had pretty print tablecloths. A big mirror covered much of the pale green back wall. Pain
ted wood partitions covered passageways leading left and right.
“No food on the table,” Pierce spoke quietly to Callaghan as they approached. “No coffee, no water. Nobody there, and all of the lights on.”
“So, we wouldn’t have too much trouble finding them, you think?”
“He’s not hiding, is he?”
Pierce pushed the glass door and walked in unhurried. The bell over the door tinkled comically and his shoes clicked on the tiled floor. His arms hung out away from his sides and the backs of his hands were forward.
Princess followed and stayed tight behind his left shoulder.
She stayed where she felt the heat of his body. His solid strength comforted her. As he stopped, her arm crooked and her face pressed against his thick bicep.
Her attention briefly wavered as she felt the clench of his firm, round ass cheek.
Yvgeny’s goons had to be somewhere. They could be skulking in the passageways or out the back, ready to emerge, lazily planting their feet apart, big, heavy guns at their sides, ready for a Russian mafia version of the OK Corral.
Calhoun stayed by the door. Agostini had his hand on the back of his hip as he moved to face Dino. He stood a little behind Yvgeny. The Russian sat with his hands on his thighs under the table and he had to turn to look at Agostini.
Yvgeny slowly lifted his head and smiled back at Agostini. Princess realized that Yvgeny could have left his goons behind, waiting in the Hummer, so that they could follow. That way, she, Agostini and Callaghan would be sandwiched between them and Yvgeny.
Princess’s body trembled from head to foot behind Agostini. She knew that he felt it and wished he didn’t.
“Dino,” Agostini said brightly, “how you doing?”
Dino’s heavy eyelids lowered and rose. “I’m glad to see you, sport.”
Yvgeny said, “Does it appear that I have something that you want, Mr. Agostini?”
Outside, across the street, Princess heard the doors of the Hummer open and shut and a number of heavy boots hit the macadam. She lifted her eyes quickly from Yvgeny up to the mirror. Four men in black leather jackets crossed the street. They all carried guns, two-handed.
Nobody moved as the men reached the door. Princess shivered as the four men stepped in, her heart slamming a frantic tattoo high in her chest. She heard another vehicle pull up outside and saw the reflection of a big man getting quickly out of a cab.
Callaghan grabbed the last of the Russians by the hair, yanked his head downward, and pressed a gun into his temple. “You all stay nice and calm now.” His Irish brogue was strong as he addressed Yvgeny’s henchmen. “If I shoot him from this range, I’ll catch at least one more of you with the same shot.”
In the mirror, she saw Calhoun out on the sidewalk, feet wide apart, holding a gun with both hands, pointed through the window and right at Yvgeny. Her breath snatched.
Agostini lifted his left hand a little, palm down and flat, “Not,” he said evenly, “that any of us will need to do any shooting.”
He said to the goons, “One of you goes for a weapon, I can get a knee or an ankle knee off each of you pretty fast,” as he reached back and pulled the heavy automatic pistol from out of his waistband. “Meantime, your buddy’s head’s going to be meatballs in tomato sauce.”
He smiled at the seated Russian. “Or, we can just leave. Roll the dice another day. What do you say, Yvgeny?”
“All right.” Yvgeny smiled as he lifted his empty hands from under the table, palms up. He told his goons, “Let them go.” And said to Pierce, “Really, it was only a chat.”
Princess clung to Pierce’s back. She felt his muscles tighten as Dino rose and his chair scraped on the tiles. Agostini, Calhoun, and Callaghan stayed still.
Dino said to Yvgeny, “It was nice. We must do this more often.”
When Yvgeny turned back to Dino and said, “We’ll meet again soon enough,” she couldn’t see his expression.
As Dino walked to the door, he ruffled the hair of the goon that Callaghan held the gun on. Princess felt the air in the room snap and all the Russians’ guns twitched. Dino walked out.
Agostini started to back toward the door. Princess moved behind him in step. They passed near enough to two of the Russians for her to smell the oil on their guns. When they reached the door, Princess opened it.
Callaghan followed them out, walking backwards with his gun on the four Russian gunmen. As he reached to push the door, one of the goons made a move to lift his gun. Callaghan yanked the neck of the Russian he held until he made a gurgling, choking sound.
“Up to you, me old matey, but at least two of yous will get it.” He angled his head at Calhoun. “And your boss, so the ones that don’t die won’t get paid, either.”
Calhoun kept his position with his gun aimed at Yvgeny.
Agostini opened the car door and Princess climbed into the middle of the back seat. As he climbed in and shut his door, Dino said, “Russian fucking hoodlums. It’s always a game of chess. They’re always thinking of something three or four moves down the line.”
Agostini slid in beside her. Between him and Dino, she felt safe. Still, she trembled all over. Slipping into the front seat, Calhoun turned his head. “You think he was aiming just to try us out?”
“That’s it exactly,” Agostini said. “He didn’t do anything, and there was nothing at all in what he said. Did he even ask you any questions, Dino?”
“No, nothing that mattered. Like you said, he wanted to see how fast we’d react, how you’d approach him. How you were going to deal with him.” Callaghan shut his door and started the car up.
Calhoun said, “You think he’ll come at us again?”
Agostini said, “I know he will. I’m sure he has a move ready.”
Dino asked, “Calhoun, did you think the glass in that diner window might be bulletproof?”
“I wondered about it. He could probably have got a shot off at me otherwise, and it could all have gone a little differently. He’ll have had a weapon near to hand for sure, and I’m thinking that’s why he didn’t use it.”
Princess frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. If the glass were bulletproof, why would he have been worried? You wouldn’t have been able to shoot him.”
“I’d have shot twice in the same spot real fast. Three times, if I had to. At close range, there’s not much glass will withstand that.”
He looked around to Princess. Her heart was almost in her mouth. He said, “Yvgeny wouldn’t have been accurate enough to do that from where he was. You can’t do from more than a few inches away.”
She looked up at Agostini and her voice was breathy. “Three of you took five of them.”
His voice was firm, solid. She held on to the top of his arm, like she had in the diner. “First move was ours,” he said. “I was thinking that Yvgeny made it too easy, but…” He looked in her eyes. “I don’t feel too much like playing myself down as the hero. Not while your face is shining up at me.” Her stomach flipped.
He said, “I think Yvgeny may have just wanted to see us all together in a bright light.”
She was roused by the glow that his voice lit inside her. That kind of feeling, emotion that ran so deep, was unfamiliar to her, and she wondered where it would take her if she didn’t keep it under control.
With a start, she took her hand off his thigh.
When they got back to the penthouse, Agostini wanted to talk to her, but before he could say a word, she took herself straight to the window in the loggia and stood in the dark far corner with her arms across her chest.
He saw that she wanted to be alone. Still, she shot glances back at him from the darkness. He left the light around that part of the penthouse low to give her refuge.
Calhoun fixed drinks and Callaghan huddled with Dino. They were calling “the girls.” Dino said into his phone, “Hurry on over, darling, before the champagne gets warm.”
Pierce fixed himself a shot of tequila. Took one out to Princess with a slice of
lemon and a small pile of salt on a saucer. She stayed in the far corner. He approached only as near as the coffee table and put the drink down for her there.
Her eyes flickered and smoldered at him, but she didn’t move any closer, so he let her be. Still, he put himself at the entrance to the loggia, between her and the room, to discourage others from entering.
From the kitchen, Dino raised a glass to her. She reached across for the shot and looked at him as she lifted it, but she didn’t move any nearer. Her expression stayed neutral, too.
Standing there like a guard, Agostini felt protective. It seemed like every day she made him feel something new, something that brought him up short by how it was alien and familiar at the same time. And however much it threw him off balance, it seemed like he liked it more and more.
Two Hitmen: A Double Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Lawless Book 1) Page 81