Page 24 of Fight

Six

Ioan

P sat next to me, quiet, but studying me. She was trying to take stock of me, and I wondered what she saw.

“So you’re some big shot?” she finally asked.

“No, not in the least. What makes you ask that?” I said.

“Nice house, nice car, nice clothes,” she said.

“And debts I can’t pay.” I couldn’t keep the anger out of my voice, but when I looked at P, she didn’t seem disturbed. Good. I was pissed at the situation, at being beholden to Markov, but I didn’t want that to affect P.

She shrugged. “Most people don’t have six hundred K sitting around, but still, I get that big-shot vibe from you.”

“Well, you’re wrong.”

I didn’t say anything after that, didn’t tell her how I had been on my way to becoming something until a fuckup had derailed me. One that, all things considered, was even worse than my current fuckup.

“We’re here,” I said and I turned the car to stop in front of heavy metal gates.

P watched, quiet, eyes wide, as I got out of the car and called to Vasile’s guards.

They searched me quickly and nodded. I gestured to P, and she got out of the car. She stood stiffly as Vasile’s man searched her. Once he’d finished, she walked toward me swiftly, not putting more than a step between us as I walked through the opening gates.

She looked back and watched as the car was driven out of the driveway and around the corner.

“They’re taking your car,” she whispered urgently, sounding almost upset.

I looked over my shoulder at her. “It’s fine. Don’t worry. We’re safe here,” I said.

I hoped that wasn’t a lie.

P would be fine, probably, but I couldn’t entirely say the same for myself. Vasile had told me to clean up my mess, but he’d had the night to reconsider. I couldn’t count on him not changing his mind.

P scoffed but didn’t speak as we walked toward the door.

When we reached it, I turned to her. “They’re going to check you for weapons and then take you into a room. You’ll be fine, but stay put and don’t speak,” I said.

She nodded mutely, her expression increasingly panicked.

“Calm down, jefe,” I said. I needed her calm, couldn’t have her do something rash here in Vasile’s home. Yes, that was why I felt the need to soothe her, that and nothing more. At least that was what I told myself.

“You calm down,” she snapped, probably on instinct more than anything else, but she smiled sheepishly when I grinned at her.

And she looked less like she was about to have a heart attack, which was good. Now that she was calm, I could focus.

One of Vasile’s men quickly patted P down and then led her to the right as I went left. My own heart was pounding now, the question of how Vasile would respond to two fuckups was one I didn’t yet know the answer to.

He was waiting when I entered his office as I’d known he would be.

“You came to my home,” Vasile said.

He did all in his power to keep his two worlds isolated, something I knew how seriously he took.

“I apologize, but the matter was urgent and I think I have a—”

I stopped short, instantly regretting the fact that I had spoken. Doing so was a sign of weakness. Instead of speaking, I should have waited, but I’d been too preoccupied by thinking of a past when I had been welcome here, and a future that hinged on the outcome of this conversation.

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