Betting on Grace

by Salonen, Debra

  “I’m fine, Yetta. Just tired. I’m on a new medication,” he said, feeling an unexpected surge of energy. This last crisis had scared him, but he was determined to hold on long enough to see his son.

  Yetta made a tsking sound. “Which is why I need to visit you. Bring some herbs, some restorative tea. When can I come?”

  He looked at the array of pill bottles on his bedside table and the assortment of hospital paraphernalia he’d carted home. “Maybe next week. After my cleaning lady gets back from her vacation. I don’t want anyone to see this mess.”

  She didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “Even your son?”

  “Now, Yetta, don’t start. You know that’s not why I gave you his number.”

  “Okay. I’ll let it go for now, but eventually you two have to meet. For both your sakes.”

  Jurek didn’t speak. To say anything would reveal how much he longed to see Nikolai.

  Yetta sighed in a way that made him smile. “Maybe you’re right about Zeke, but he rubbed me the wrong way.”

  “He rubbed you?” Jurek joked. “I might have to come visit you after all. A man can’t go around rubbing my cousin and get away with it.”

  Yetta laughed. He liked her laugh. He wished he could be around to hear it more often. But in order for that to happen, he’d have to get well, and Jurek, seasoned gambler that he was, was afraid that wasn’t in the cards.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  A BLACK RAGE MADE Charles shove his keyboard off his desk. Too furious even to curse, he leaped to his feet and started to pace.

  More money. The son of a bitch wanted more money. Money I don’t have.

  “Charles?” a voice asked. “Is everything okay?”

  He froze. MaryAnn stood in the doorway between their offices, a worried look on her plain, round face. When was the last time anyone had shown him sympathy and concern? He couldn’t remember.

  “I just heard from the brothers,” he said truthfully. Bad news always comes in threes, his mother used to say. First, Walter e-mailed to say he was rejecting Charles’s offer but would reconsider if Charles threw in a permanent private suite. Wishful thinking, Charles thought scornfully. As if the doddering old fool really needed someplace to conduct his clandestine affairs. That blow had been followed by Ralph’s outrageous demand for extra cash and a percentage of the gaming profits for ten years.

  But both counteroffers from the Salvatore brothers, although annoying, seemed workable compared to the third e-mail in his private box. Charles had it memorized.

  “A hundred thousand or I tell Grace.”

  “Bad, huh? I’m sorry,” MaryAnn said. “I was afraid that would happen. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Yeah, find me a hit man.”

  She startled visibly, then gave a small, uneasy laugh.

  Scaring the help probably wasn’t a good idea. Neither was sharing his secrets. But Charles was running out of options. He couldn’t allow this predator to ruin everything he’d worked so hard to achieve.

  He remembered all too clearly his mother’s advice. “You gotta look after your own interests first. Nobody else is gonna give a damn, and a bloodsucking leech ain’t gonna just drop off when it gets its fill. It sucks the body dry.”

  “What do you know about our new janitor? Nick What’s-his-name.”

  “Sarna,” she said. “Nikolai Sarna. He’s living with my father-in-law, but I haven’t really talked to him. I can get you his file.” She started to turn away, eager to help.

  “Just refresh my memory. Why was he in jail?”

  She swallowed as if uncomfortable saying the words aloud. “Attempted murder. He almost killed a man with his bare hands.”

  Just my kind of guy. Charles stifled a smile.

  “Do you want to talk to him?”

  Perversely, Charles found a certain poetic justice in the idea of getting one Gypsy to off another Gypsy. He was convinced the blackmailer was a member of the Radonovic family. His money was on Liz, who had been a classmate of his sister’s and was struggling to make ends meet. Although everyone thought of her as the altruistic do-gooder, Charles had sensed something dark about her since she returned from Eastern Europe. He wouldn’t put it past her to resort to blackmail.

  As MaryAnn started to leave, he asked, “You and Liz and my sister were in the same high school class, right? Did you know her?”

  She appeared surprised by the question. “A…Amy? We…um…had a couple of classes together. I was really sorry when I heard she passed away. She seemed like a nice person.”

  Nice? Tragic would be more like it. Amy was one of those people who couldn’t handle the cards they were dealt. Charles had had the same pathetic parents. A father who drank himself to death, and a mother who worked three jobs to keep food on the table—and fund her slot-machine habit. His life wasn’t any bed of roses, but he hadn’t taken the easy way out.

  “Did you know she was a drug addict?”

  “No. Not in high school, anyway. I heard rumors later on. That’s how she died, right?”

  Technically. He pictured her body on the table at the morgue where he’d been called to identify her. Emaciated. A thousand years old. Stringy hair and bad teeth. No trace of the beautiful child he’d once loved so dearly.

  “Charles, are you sure there’s nothing I can do to help?”

  He shook his head. This was his problem. He would handle it. Or, rather, he’d find someone to do it for him. His new janitor, for instance, he thought with a smile.

  “HE KISSED YOU? Where?”

  The sisters were grouped around their mother’s table on the Tuesday after Alex got out of the hospital for a breakfast meeting.

  “On the lips, of course,” Grace answered, making a face at Kate, who’d asked the question.

  “She means where did this kiss take place?” Liz said, her tone impatient. She’d been reluctant to agree to this meeting, claiming she had other things to do, but Grace had made her feel guilty about not attending.

  “And when?” Alex asked. “Before or after my little scare at the hospital? If he knew you were upset about me, it might have been a sympathy kiss.”

  Grace shook her head and groaned. “Oh, for heaven’s sake. I can’t believe I said anything. Why did I? I must be a glutton for punishment.” When no one contradicted her, she went on, “Nikolai is…well, gorgeous. I’m wildly attracted to him. You know that’s what I do—fall for handsome men who are totally wrong for me.”

  “Why is he wrong for you?” Alex asked. “He seems okay to me. He went right to work within a couple of days of arriving here.”

  Liz nodded. “Yeah. He didn’t sit around for three months feeling sorry for himself the way Gregor did the last time he got laid off.”

  “But he’s been in prison,” Grace argued. “For fighting. That isn’t good.”

  “No, but he paid his debt to society,” Alex replied. “There are worse things, you know.”

  Grace guessed Alex was referring to Mark, her ex-fiancé. A cop. A terrific guy by everybody’s standards—until he got his partner pregnant and broke Alex’s heart.

  “His record isn’t the problem so much as all the blank spaces in his life story. If you were interested in a girl wouldn’t you open up about your family, friends, goals, ambitions, likes and dislikes? That’s what people do when they want to start a relationship, right?” She didn’t wait for a unanimous vote. She’d thought this through and although Nikolai had shared a few things about his past, including that incident with his sister, he remained an enigma. And the fact that she was drawn to him despite this scared her.

  “Maybe he had a lousy childhood,” Alex said. She put her hand up. “Wait. Haven’t we been down this road before? I swear I already said that. Am I losing my mind, or is it this new drug the doctor has me on?”

  Grace got up and walked around the table to where her big sister was sitting. She leaned down and put her arms around Alex’s narrow shoulders. “The pills seem to be working well. You
look fabulous.”

  “She’s right. Your color is almost back to normal, Alex,” Liz added. She looked at Grace. “But when it comes to men, I think the Radonovic sisters are doomed to have this conversation again and again and again. What are the odds? You’d think at least one of us could pick a winner.”

  Kate, who’d seemed unnaturally quiet, let out a long sigh. “Speaking of bad choices, I got a letter from Ian on Saturday. I didn’t want to upset everyone after Alex’s scare, but apparently there’s a good chance he’s going to be released early. Soon, in fact. He wants to meet with me…regarding Maya. He wants to see her.”

  Alex sat forward. “Oh, Kate, no. Don’t do it. He abdicated his parental rights when he stole Mom’s money and tried to cheat our family and friends. You don’t owe him anything.”

  “Surely he doesn’t think we’d welcome him back into the fold, does he?” Liz asked.

  Kate threw up her hands in a gesture of frustration. “I don’t know what’s going on in his head. I never did.”

  Grace frowned. “Do you know where you stand legally?”

  “We’re divorced and I have full custody of Maya, but apparently in this state unless you’ve signed papers saying you give up any claim of custody, you’re a father till you die. He says he can petition the court for visitations.”

  The very idea made Grace queasy. Her ex-brother-in-law had a history of taking off. What if he grabbed Maya? “Have you contacted a lawyer?” she asked.

  Kate nodded. “I’ve set up a meeting with Jo’s son. He’s new in town and Jo said he’d give me a discount since she works for me.”

  “Good,” Alex said. “Hopefully, he’ll find out Ian’s threat is just wishful thinking. Personally, I don’t blame him for wanting to meet Maya—she’s the most amazing child on the planet, but naturally I’d never tell him that.” Absently dunking her tea bag in the cup in front of her, she looked at Grace and said, “So, Grace, ’fess up. What’s happening with your plans? I assume that’s the real reason you called us together this morning.”

  She was right. Charles had phoned last night to tell her his contractor had a small window of opportunity and if they missed out, they’d wind up paying thousands more down the road.

  “Um…Mom’s agreed to give me the money.”

  Alex groaned.

  Kate shook her head.

  Liz pushed back her chair and walked to the sink.

  Nobody said anything. They didn’t need to. Grace could sense their unanimous disapproval. “It’s a wonderful opportunity, guys,” she said. “Primo location. The market’s hot, and Charles is gung ho to make it happen.”

  “What about Charles’s partners?” Alex asked.

  At least this time Grace had an answer. “Charles said he’s in the final stages of buying them out. And in case you’re curious, I asked him how he can afford to purchase a multimillion-dollar property and remodel it at the same time and he said that’s what loans and private investors were for. He’s even drawn up a contract, although I haven’t actually seen it.”

  Seeing the skeptical look on Liz’s face, Grace blushed. She didn’t want any of them guessing where her mind had been the past few days—far away from business. With Nikolai.

  “It still sounds iffy to me,” Liz said. “Contract or no contract, you’re handing over a huge chunk of change to a man who might own the place by the time you open your doors if everything falls into place.” She shook her head. “Doesn’t that strike you as a little risky?”

  Put that way it sounded downright foolish. Was she a fool? Not only where business was concerned, but in her personal life, as well. Both areas seemed to be headed in the same direction—expansion based on a leap of faith. Hadn’t she done the same thing with Shawn? Jumped into a relationship without heeding the red flags? Hadn’t her sisters tried to warn her that time, too?

  “I’m an idiot, aren’t I?”

  “No, you’re just trying too hard to make something positive happen,” Liz said, her tone surprisingly gentle. “We’ve all been there.”

  Grace heard something sad behind the admission.

  “You need to buy some time until we get an outside opinion,” Alex said. “Put off Charles for a week. If this offer is legitimate, it will still be doable in seven days.”

  “She’s right,” Kate said. “Give me a copy of the proposal and I’ll show it to Jo’s son. Jo claims he was top of his class in contract law.”

  Grace didn’t look forward to breaking the news to Charles. She’d already suggested having an independent counsel represent her in the deal and he’d acted hurt and offended. “Your father trusted me—why don’t you?” he’d countered when they spoke on the phone.

  Grace looked around the table. She knew her sisters. They’d hound her for life if she made this deal without listening to them. And Lord help her if something went wrong, they’d hound her in the afterlife, too.

  “You win. I’ll tell Charles after lunch.”

  “Great,” Alex said. “Now…about that kiss, where were his hands?”

  Kate snickered softly. “More importantly, where was his tongue?”

  Grace shook her head and groaned. Sisters.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “HEY, SARNA, they want you up in the big man’s office.”

  Nick looked over his shoulder at his supervisor, a short Philippino with dreadlocks he wore tucked under his hat. Nick handed him his broom. “A raise already?” he said jokingly. “Must be my great work ethic.”

  “Hey, you’ll be lucky if they don’t fire your ass. I seen you talking to the boss’s girl the other day. Word gets around, you know.”

  The boss’s girl? Not according to Grace. Had news of their date reached Charles, he wondered as he made his way to the suite of offices?

  To his surprise, MaryAnn sent him straight in.

  Charles was seated behind his desk. “Sit down. I have a little problem, and I think you might be just the man to help me get rid of it.”

  Nick brushed off his dusty jeans. “For the right price, I’ll do ’most anything. What’s up?”

  Charles made a bridge with his fingers. His expression was serious. Dead serious, Nick realized as he listened to Charles’s proposition.

  “You want me to off somebody? And you’re not even sure who?”

  “I’ve hired a computer expert to track where the e-mail was sent from. The first two letters came in the mail. I ignored them because the threat wasn’t specific. Just something like ‘Pay up or you’ll be sorry.’ I put them through the shredder.”

  Nick forced himself to act nonplussed. Here was an undercover cop’s reward for scrubbing toilets.

  “Hey, I don’t know much about computers, but just because you find the machine, doesn’t mean you know who used it, right?”

  Charles frowned. “It will give us a place to start. If I agree to meet the blackmailer’s demands, he—or she—will need to contact me to set up a drop-off point. That’s when you can nail him. Or her. At the moment, my money’s on Liz—no pun intended.”

  “Grace’s sister? What’s she got on you?”

  Charles turned sideways, his gaze fixed on something in the distance. “That is none of your business. Suffice to say, there are details regarding my sister’s troubled life that I’d rather not be made public.”

  Nick remembered seeing some mention of Charles’s sister in his file. A drug addict. Her body had been found in an ally in North Las Vegas. An apparent overdose.

  “Why would Liz blackmail you?”

  Charles’s look said Nick was the stupidest person alive. “The money, of course. She’s in way over her head with that house of hers. Grace has called it a money pit.”

  Nick’s stomach clenched. He, too, had heard Grace mention Liz’s struggle to make ends meet, but Nick would never have pegged her as the type to resort to extortion.

  “Plus, something happened to her when she was overseas,” Charles went on, more to himself it seemed than to Nick. “Grace told me the who
le family has discussed it. They think it had something to do with a man, because Liz hasn’t dated since she got back. Who better than a man-hater to want to bring me down?”

  “What about your sister’s friends? The people she hung out with.”

  Charles made a scoffing sound. “Those losers? They wouldn’t dare cross me.” Unblinking, Charles looked straight at Nick and a chill passed down his spine. “Not unless they want their well to dry up.”

  No shit. Zeke had been right about Charles’s drug connection.

  “Besides,” Charles said, “whoever sent this knows I’m negotiating a deal with Grace. Today’s note threatened to tell her if I didn’t come up with the cash. That narrows the list of suspects. Someone who knew my sister and is privy to the Radonovic family gossip.”

  “Why would exposing details about your sister ruin your deal?”

  Charles sighed. “Grace is young, idealistic and passionate about family. She’d never understand about Amy and me. We were…close. Not in age, of course. I practically raised her. But as she got older, she became more…troubled. She was mixed up and made some terrible choices for herself, including drugs. I know that Grace would blame me for that, if the blackmailer told her everything.”

  Everything. Nick wondered what that involved. To block his suspicions, he asked, “How much is this worth to you?”

  They haggled over the price for a good ten minutes, then Charles said, “Are you sure you can handle it? I mean, I’ve heard that you and Grace have been hanging around together. Her last boyfriend was a good-looking loser, too.”

  “She’s just a means to an end,” Nick said, wishing like hell he meant it.

  Charles nodded as if trying to decide whether or not to believe him. “And if the blackmailer is Liz? Could you do her?”