Page 12 of King of the Bronx

Chapter Five

Raven

I spotted Toby immediately. He was behind the bar tonight, leaning across it and flirting with a blonde on the other side.

“I’m gonna grab a drink,” Erica said from behind me, before walking to an empty spot at the counter. She’d decided to take the night off and come with me to meet Toby.

I had questions for him. I shouldn’t have blindly followed his idea to start counting cards again. I needed to know how deep of shit I was in.

I sat in one of the stools and waited for Toby to notice me. Once he did, he stood up straight and walked over.

“What’s up?”

“Can we talk?” I asked. He looked around the bar and waved a hand at the other bartender, letting her know he was stepping out for a minute. He rounded the bar, and I met him at the end before we both walked outside. Toby rummaged in his pocket before pulling out a cigarette and putting it in between his lips.

“What’s going on?” he asked. He rounded his hands around the end of the cigarette to keep out the wind as he lit it.

“Who owns the underground gambling spot that you sent me to?” I’d been thinking about the question for the last couple days. The last two times I went back to the underground, I hadn’t seen Enzo. The move he pulled the other night told me he was dangerous, but I wanted to know exactly who I was dealing with before stealing from him.

Toby took a drag of the cigarette before blowing out a puff of smoke. “Why? Just get your money and get out of there. Don’t spend too much time lingering.”

“Yeah, it’s a little too late for that. I’m rusty. I’ve been there for a week trying to sharpen my skills.”

Toby ran a hand through his hair. “Fuck, Raven. Couldn’t you have practiced at the casino?”

“It’s not the same.” I didn’t feel like explaining to him how I needed to be comfortable in the place before I bet that much money. I needed to be able to read the room and know the other players. “Who owns it?” I asked again.

“The mob.” He searched my eyes for some kind of response. A chill ran down my spine. That wasn’t the answer I wanted. I was hoping it was owned by some low-level street gang. It obviously wasn’t the Irish mob he was talking about, or they would have already dragged me out of there, which left only one option. It was owned by the most powerful people in New York city. They were above all other criminals, even above the police in some cases. The Italian mob had a lot of people on their payroll, and nobody stole from the mob unless they were willing to risk their life.

“You sent me to steal from a mob establishment?” I whisper-screamed at him, suddenly furious. Heat filled my face. I was probably as bright as a tomato.

“Shhh. I didn’t know you were going to hang around there. You were just supposed to count cards, win your cash, and get out.”

“That’s not how it works. Don’t you think it would have been even more suspicious if someone who has never been in there before walks in and wins big?”

His eyebrows furrowed together. I ran a hand over my face. This was so much worse than I’d thought.

“Okay, calm down—”

“Don’t tell me to calm down. I’m the one putting my life at risk!”

“Your life is at risk either way.”

I turned away from him and started to pace the sidewalk in front of the bar. What was I going to do? It was too late to just disappear. I had to get the money. Toby was right. Either way, I was risking my life. How had I gotten stuck between two criminal organizations when all I wanted to do was run my business?

Toby took another drag of his cigarette. “Listen, I know you’re in deep shit right now—”

I snorted. “Ya think?”

He blew out a puff of smoke. “But let’s just get it over with. Like ripping off a Band-Aid. You only need one big win, and then you can pay off the Irish and put all this shit behind you. They’ll just think you got lucky and you were smart and didn’t keep playing.”

I stopped my pacing and leaned my head against the cool window of the bar. “I’m so fucked.”

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