RUTHLESS KING

6 THE BOSS IS COMING TO GET YOU

Stella
I stare up at the address stamped across the aluminum grate covering the
entrance of 103 Canal Street. With a deep breath to steady my nerves, I lift
my knuckles to the metal. The harsh clanging sends my heart shooting up
my throat.
A faint buzz catches my attention, and I glance up at the security
camera over my head. A red light blinks, and the lens clicks and spins. A
moment later, a middle-aged man in a black suit appears behind the barred
door.
He opens it a crack, and dark beady eyes meet mine. Wiry gray hair
creeps up his temples, mixing with the black. “You Stella?”
I nod.
He takes a step back and ushers me inside. From the first look at the
interior, it’s an old pawn shop. The dusty glass cases hold a treasure of gold
and silver jewelry and watches.
“Give me your phone.” He extends a meaty palm as I fumble for my
cell.
“When will I get it back?” “Don’t worry about that right now.” He snatches it from my hand and
slides it into his jacket pocket. “Now come with me.” He hitches his thumb
over his shoulder and leads me toward the back. The hair on the back of my
neck rises, and I dip my hand into my pocket, fingers closing around the
pepper spray. I’d swapped it out for my inhaler in a last-minute attempt at
self-preservation.
As I follow the big man down the dark corridor, my thoughts reel. First
off, I’ve never seen this guy at the Red Dragon, and after a year of dating
Bo, the asshole, I was pretty familiar with the major players. I was certain
I’d find Bo here himself. So who was this guy?
He holds the door open and ticks his head into the dim room. From the
crack, I can just make out a hunched figure on a chair. “Dad!” I cry out and
race for him, but a firm hand closes around my upper arm.
Another dark-haired male glares down at me, this one a few years
younger than the first and with arms so thick his suit clings on like spandex.
My dad lifts his head, both eyes bruised and puffy. “Don’t hurt her,
Tony.”
“I’m not a monster, you prick. I wouldn’t hurt a lady.” He releases his
hold and motions toward the chair beside my father. Two other males in
black suits and matching ruby pocket squares stand in the shadows. Were
these the same thugs I’d seen at the Red Dragon? Or did they all just wear
the same uniform?
I shoot the first guy a narrowed glare before marching over to check on
my dad. His lip is split, and dried blood splotches line his collar. I spin
around and glare at this Tony guy. “So you wouldn’t hurt a lady but a
middle-aged man is okay, bastardo?”
A flicker of a smile curls the man’s lip. “I didn’t know you were Italian.
Not with a father like that.”
“Well, I am. My mother was an Esposito.” The entire room is blanketed in silence. Yeah, that’s right fuckers.
Nonno, my grandfather was kind of a big deal. Way before the Kings and
the Red Dragons, and the Chinese Triad ruled these streets.
The man dips his head. “I’m sorry for your loss. I didn’t know Isabella
was your mother.”
An odd, strangled sound erupts from my father’s lips, and a knot of
emotion thickens my throat. I shove it down. Hard. Now is not the time for
sentimental bullshit. I need my wits about me if we’re going to survive this.
Tony reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out his phone. After
shooting off a quick text, he pockets it again and rounds the table we’re
seated in front of. “Do you have the money?”
I shake my head. “If we had the money, we would’ve given it to you a
week ago. Didn’t Bo tell you we were trying to work out a deal?”
“Bo?” The big guy’s thick brows slam together.
“Yeah, Bo Zhang. Aren’t you all Red Dragons?” The moment the words
are out I feel like a total stronza. With dark wavy hair, prominent noses, and
thick New York accents, there’s nothing Asian about any of these men.
A deep chuckle erupts from Tony’s thinned lips. “No, sweetheart, we
ain’t Red Dragons. We bought out some of their old debts. So now, you owe
the Kings.”
Well, shit. On one hand I’m beyond relieved I wouldn’t have to beg Bo
for a break, but on the other, the Italian mafia is just as ruthless as the
Chinese Triad.
“Stella, damn it,” Dad snarls, “you should’ve gone to Mrs. D. like I told
you.”
“I couldn’t,” I whisper-hiss. “She doesn’t deserve to be dragged into this
mess.”
Tony cracks his knuckles, the sound sending ripples of goosebumps up
and down my arms. “Well, Mr. Liam McKenzie, you owe my boss money,
and my job is to collect.” “Please ….” I chomp down on my lower lip to keep it from trembling.
I’d rather beg to this guy than Bo any day. “There has to be some other
payment schedule we can work out. I’ve been sick and out of work and Dad
lost his job. Can you give us another month?” I grab my purse and pull out
my checkbook. Not even Dad knows about my secret savings account. I’ve
been squirreling away every penny for my grand escape. I still had just shy
of a grand. “I can give you five hundred now and the rest at the end of the
month.”
Dad’s eyes light up as they scan the crisp checks.
Tony’s phone dings again, a sharp cry in the thickening silence, and he
scans the screen before turning his gaze back to me. “My boss has a better
idea.”
“What’s that?” Dad leans forward but the cuffs pinning his hands
behind his back restrict the movement.
“You give me the five hundred today, and you, Liam, get to walk out of
here with all your limbs intact, and we keep your daughter as collateral until
the debt is paid.”
A sharp gasp escapes through my clenched teeth. “What?” I finally blurt
once my brain is able to process the words.
“Done.” My father’s voice sends ice surging through my veins. I barely
recognize the frosty tenor through the roar of my heartbeats.
“What?” I squeal again. Before I can get another word out, a dark
shadow appears over me and big hands clamp down on my shoulders. I try
to wriggle free, to reach for the pepper spray, but the man is like a freakin’
ox. Another guy grabs my wrists and forces them behind my back. Metal
bites into my skin, and I let out another screech followed by a string of
colorful Italian curses.
Tony smirks again, and the urge to punch the figlio di puttana in the
throat is overwhelming.
“Vaffanculo!” I scream at the top of my lungs. “You can’t do this!” He rounds the desk and pulls a stack of paper from the drawer, then
places it in front of my father. I can’t even look at him. The sight of the man
who raised me, who is supposed to protect me, sends my stomach roiling
and nausea clawing up my throat.
The meathead that led me into this godforsaken place unlocks Dad’s
handcuffs and remains at his side, looming dangerously.
“Just sign here.” Tony points at the dotted line. His lips twist, in what I
could swear is disgust, as my father signs my life away without a second
thought.
The pezzo di merda doesn’t even look at me as he slides the papers back
to Tony and leaps up.
“Dad?”
Nothing.
“Make the payment as required, and you’ll see your daughter at the end
of the month.”
Liam McKenzie nods and races out of the room so fast he’s nothing
more than a cowardly blur.
I lean back against the chair, numb. He left me. My father, my last
living relative just sold me off to the Kings.
Tony sinks into the chair across the desk and runs his large hands over
his face. With a grunt, he watches me as a thick silence pervades the small
space. “Piece of shit,” he mutters.
My eyes dart up to meet his. Was he talking about my dad? I almost
open my mouth to ask, but I’m too fucking spent. All the anger seeps out of
me like a leaky tire. How could he do this to me?
I was ready to sell my body for him. I would have done anything to save
his sorry ass despite the shitty way he’s treated me for the past ten years.
Tony’s phone pings again, but I’m too numb to care. My heart is broken,
a bottomless chasm opening up in my chest, and I have nothing left.
“… coming to get you, sweetheart.” The man’s words blur in the
distance. It sounds like he’s underwater or maybe I am. I’m drowning.
I stare at him blankly.
“I said, the boss is coming to get you.”