by Nicole Fox
“Yes, that. But I really didn’t expect us to do this to you again, and I never would have agreed otherwise.”
“But you did! Jesus, Don, we grew up together. I spent half my life at your house.”
“It wasn’t … It wasn’t our idea.”
Wait, what? Was he saying what I thought he was saying?
“Are you– Did someone hire you to stage the crime?”
“You know I would never willingly betray you, King. You know it.”
Fuck. This was worse than I thought. I wondered what would have happened if I hadn’t come back to the club and interrupted them. I would’ve surely been framed for another crime that I didn’t do, and this time, there was no way I could escape going to prison.
Who could’ve set me up, though? I felt like Christy last night, when she immediately jumped to the conclusion of Rossi, but there was really no other option, if what Don was saying was true.
If Rossi really did want to get rid of me, the only reason that I could think of was because I’d seen him getting beaten up by Christy’s regular in the back alley. Maybe he didn’t want anyone to know what had happened to him.
“Who was it, Don? It was Jarren Rossi, wasn’t it? It had to be him!”
“King, you know I can’t say anything. You know how this works. I could get in serious shit, just for calling you.”
He was getting nervous now, backtracking from what he’d said earlier, and I knew he was worried about saying too much. I couldn’t even blame him, but I had to press for more.
“You’ve always had my back, Don. Always. Please help me out.” I was pleading him for his help now, but I didn’t care. I had to know who was setting me up, and why. I couldn’t let this happen to me again. I refused to.
There was silence on the other end of the line, until a barely heard, “I’m sorry,” and then the line went dead.
“Fuck!”
I knew Don wouldn’t say anything to betray his crew. He was in way too deep to do something like that. I also knew that I should count myself lucky for even getting any kind of information from him. Pressing him so hard wasn’t a good idea, but I couldn’t help it.
Finding out if Rossi really was the one after me was so important. I had a sneaking suspicion that, because my old crew had failed their task, Rossi might turn to other people to get rid of me. Who would he ask next? The cops? The mob? There was no way to be sure, and that was the worst part.
Chapter Eleven
Christy
I was furious. Absolutely and completely fueled by a rage that I had never really experienced before. It wasn’t even just the fact that I had been robbed. It was the fact that I’d been robbed by someone like Rossi—a slimy liar and all-around sleaze that I’d had to put up with for years. I’d thought he was harmless, too. I’d even told all the girls that whenever they mentioned to me their concerns about him.
Jasmine had asked me about him once. “Christy, is it just me, or is Rossi a little creepy? Should I be staying away from him?”
I’d laughed her off at the time. “Rossi’s fine. He hits on all the girls, but he never does anything about it. Avoid him because he’s a pain in the ass, but not for anything else. Trust me.” Little did I know that the ‘pain in the ass’ would turn into my biggest nightmare.
If it weren’t for what King had said last night, then I might’ve already gone storming off to find Rossi and demanded the dirty thief give me back my money. As it was, the more responsible side of me was keeping the impulsive, angrier side of me at bay, though I wasn’t sure how long it would last.
King was right when he said that I didn’t have proof—even I could admit that. That didn’t mean that I didn’t know it was him. It had to be. He had motive, opportunity, and whatever the hell else detectives used when identifying a suspect.
Rossi had been a thorn in my side ever since I started working at Diamond Castle, and now that I was finally trying to leave, he’d gotten infinitely worse. It was like a lifetime’s worth of bad luck had escalated to this point, and here I was, unluckier than I’d ever been.
I pulled into the parking lot at work and shut off the engine, rage throbbing in my veins as I tried and failed to calm myself down.
Deep breaths, Christy. Don’t be an idiot.
My pep talk did nothing to compose myself, and I was unable to get my anger under control. It had happened to me once before, when I’d had my entire life planned out ahead of me and, in an instant, it had gone down the drain. Instead of seeing a future full of what I had dreamed, all I saw was the loss of everything that I’d worked so hard for.
Sure, I could get the money again. But that would mean years of either working under Rossi, or finding another job that took me away from my passion. It was a lose-lose situation for me. The only thing I could hope for now was the off chance that Rossi would give me back my money, but I would bet my life that that smarmy dirt bag wouldn’t even dream of doing something like that.
“Dammit,” I muttered under my breath. I knew I was about to do something incredibly stupid, but I was too far gone to care. There were times when you had to sit back and watch as your life crumbled before you, but this wasn’t one of those times.
Storming into the club, I didn’t spare anyone a second glance and marched straight into Rossi’s office, slamming the door shut behind me.
Rossi didn’t even flinch at the sound of the door, but just looked up serenely and raised an eyebrow.
“Yes?” he said cockily. Just the sound of his voice was enough to push the anger in me to higher levels. I could’ve done as King said and been calmer and smarter about it, but faced with the devil himself, I knew there wasn’t a chance I’d be up for that. I guess I would never be the bigger person, but there was a chance I’d be the richer one.
“Did you do it?” I bit out. There was no use being sly or artful now. Partly because I was terrible at it and partly because my rage was occupying too much of my mind.
“I don’t know what you mean,” he said. “Is everything okay?” His faux sincerity was rubbing me the wrong way and entirely not amusing when I was so mad.
“Don’t play dumb. I know you know what I’m talking about. I just need it back, okay? Then there’ll be no harm done, and we can move on.”
I wasn’t sure if he realized it, but Rossi was treading dangerous ground and whatever he said next would be the determining factor in whether or not I reached my breaking point.
“Christy, are you feeling okay? You're not really making any sense. If you want the day off-”
“I know you stole my money, you smug bastard!”
“I’d watch what I was saying, Christy. You know I like you, but if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were accusing me of something. You wouldn’t be doing that, now would you?”
I could see exactly what Rossi was doing, but I wouldn’t back down. I’d already tipped past the point of no return, and I wasn’t about to stop now.
“I am accusing you! You stole my deposit, Rossi. You’re a dirty thief, and I want my money back!”
“Now, hold on. That’s no way to speak to your boss.”
“I don’t care who the fuck you are.” I strode forward quickly and placed my palms on the edge of his desk, leaning forward so my face was close to his. “Give me back my fucking money.”
“Christy, I must say that this is completely unacceptable behavior. If you don’t apologize right now, then I’ll be forced to take drastic measures.”
There was no way he was serious. Jarren Rossi was the kind of man that bluffed his way through life, and there wasn’t a chance in hell that I would back down now.
“Apologize? Fuck you. Do your worst, you pig.”
“All right. You’ve forced my hand.”
Rossi got up from his chair and walked to the door, opening it wide and yelling, “King!”
Perfect. He wouldn’t know what hit him. King and I would team up, and Rossi would be begging for my forgiveness in no time. I almost laughed
at the arrogant look on his face. Little did he know that he’d be overpowered in mere minutes.
King arrived a moment later, stalking in silently and frowning at the scene before him. When his eyes reached me, I could almost see him suppressing an eye roll. He’d warned me that I had no proof and shouldn’t confront Rossi, but now that King was at my back, it didn’t matter. We could handle Rossi together, I could get my money back, and Rossi would be out of the way for good.
“Yes, boss?” King said.
I scoffed at his tone. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think King was nothing more than a loyal puppet. I would so be teasing him about that later.
“King, please escort Miss Christy out of the building. Make sure she gets in her car and leaves.”
Laughter was bubbling up in my throat. I wondered what King would do. Send a firm punch to Rossi’s face, or just flat out refuse and make a fool of him. The door was left open, and though I could hear no sounds of any of the staff, I knew they were all paying close attention.
“Yes, sir.”
Wait, what?
I gasped when King enclosed his hand around my upper arm and dragged me to the door.
“What are you doing?” Was he really removing me from the building? What on earth was he thinking? Rossi was about to get away with a crime, and King was doing nothing to stop him. In fact, he wasn’t even looking at me.
“King, stop.”
He kept pulling me towards the exit, and I was both too shocked and too weak to pull out of his grip. Once we were out of the building, his hand loosened slightly, and I jerked out of his hold.
“What are you playing at?” I demanded angrily.
“I’m sorry, but I had to do it,” he said unemotionally.
“Are you serious? We can’t let him get away with stealing my money. Come with me, and we can figure something out and get back at him. You can’t just listen to him and force me out of here.”
“Look, Christy. You won’t understand this, but I have unfinished business here. I can’t come with you. Now, get in your car and go home. Please don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
“Harder than it has to be?” I repeated in disbelief. “How could you say that?”
King didn’t reply, but walked to my car and opened the door, holding it out for me to climb in.
“You know what, King? Fuck you.”
I climbed into my car and slammed the door shut, speeding out of the lot without a glance backwards. In my eyes, King had betrayed me, right when I needed him. But this wasn’t the end. No way. I’d get back at Rossi, if it was the last thing I did.
Chapter Twelve
King
Jarren Rossi was slowly killing me. At first, I thought I could handle him, stay on long enough to find out what I needed, and set him up like he’d tried to do to me. It was barely a day before I realized I was sorely mistaken.
I’d tried to contact Don again, but to no avail. In fact, I’d tried to contact everyone in my old crew, just to talk to them, and found that I wasn’t able to reach a single one, If that wasn’t bad enough, I realized that Rossi was my only connection to my old crew and the only way I could reach them. Ironic, since I wanted to talk to them about him.
So, there I was, stuck with Rossi and refusing to leave until I’d solved all the mysteries going on in my life. I hadn’t lied when I told Christy that I had unfinished business with him.
There were three things I was struggling to solve at that moment. One was the rich man who was undoubtedly part of the mafia, Christy’s favorite customer, beating the shit out of Rossi in the back alley behind Diamond Castle. Did the man have something on Rossi, or was he his boss? There was also the theft of Christy’s security deposit, which she was sure had something to do with Rossi. Did that mean the mob boss was involved too? And, finally, the break-in and failed robbery by my old crew at the club, which Don had implied was because they’d been hired for. Again, if Rossi was responsible, did that mean there was another guy higher up dishing out the orders?
Rossi seemed too stupid and self-centered to have so many convoluted connections and plans going on.
What I really needed to do was find the mob boss and confront him about his plans. The only problem was, my only connection to him was through Christy and the club. If he knew as much as I thought he did, then he wouldn’t be back at the club anytime soon, especially since Christy wasn’t here, and he visited her every time without fail.
It made me wonder how and why she was involved with all of this. She was being targeted by Rossi and favored by the mob boss, contradicting my theory of them working together.
It was just too hard to piece the entire puzzle together, especially with so much information missing. The only thing I could do was stick around for a little longer, until I discovered what was truly going on and who was behind everything.
As much as I hated the sleaze ball, it was necessary to keep working for him like there was nothing wrong, and I was none the wiser about him. He had connections to the police and the mob, so he could get me into all kinds of trouble if he wanted to. At the same time, his connections could keep me out of trouble as well.
The only thing I could think of that Rossi might have against me was that I saw him in a weak position. I hadn’t even told anyone about it, since I’d witnessed it. I had just kept my head down and kept on living, not planning to tell anyone what I saw or heard.
Though I tried to keep myself from expressing any dislike towards him, he made it extremely difficult when he ordered me around to do anything and everything, just because he could.
After being ordered about all night to deal with every petty thing that Rossi wanted, I finally left the club after work, with one person on my mind. I had to get to Christy and explain a few things. Even if I didn’t tell her everything, the least I could do was give her something. Especially since she’d been robbed and was now unemployed. Life was dealing both of us some pretty hard blows, and I couldn’t just leave her in the dark about everything.
Driving over to her place, I didn’t even stop to consider that three in the morning was maybe not the best time to have this talk. By the time I arrived at her door, it was too late for second-guessing, so I knocked my fist firmly against the wood.
Surprisingly, the door swung open a minute later.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Christy demanded angrily.
Even in pajama shorts and an almost transparent tank, she could still make grown men quake in their boots. Good thing I’d seen under that tank and those booty shorts, so her anger had little effect on me.
“We need to talk,” I said simply, hoping she’d just move to the side so I could enter.
“How’d you know where I live?” She narrowed her eyes at me suspiciously, and I couldn’t stop myself from rolling my own.
“I followed you once, does it matter? Let me in.” I tried to step around her, but she held her ground. It seemed a little pointless, considering how I could lift her out of the way or shove her to the side with little effort, but I decided to wait until she moved over, just to save some time arguing later.
“And why should I let you in?” She had her arms crossed, probably trying to remain firm and defensive, but it had pushed both her breasts up, and I could now see the outline of her nipples through her shirt. That was probably not what she wanted me to focus on at the moment.
“Look, you have questions, and I have answers. Can I come in now? It’s freezing, and I think we’re about to wake up the neighbors.”
Christy didn’t answer, but stepped back slightly to give me just enough room to slide by her. Again, it didn’t really have the intended effect, when I ended up having to rub across her to get by. She must have noticed too, because she stepped back a little further to give me more room, and I entered feeling more confident than before. Christy couldn’t stay mad at me for long. It just wasn’t in her DNA.
“What do you want?” Christy said sharply, still pissed as far as I cou
ld tell.
“Don’t be angry. I did what I had to do.”
“I thought we were on the same side, you dick! There I was thinking ‘oh this will be so funny when Rossi calls King in. Rossi will never know what hit him.’ Instead, you walk in like you’re his puppet and don’t even stand up for me.”
“There’s a reason for that. Look, Rossi’s up to something, and I’m trying to figure out how it’s connected to you and me.”
“I know how it’s connected! He stole my money, so I wouldn’t open up a rival club! I thought you had my back. You know he was behind it, and you know it. The least you could have done was confront him about it.