Page 36 of Solemn Vow

“I assume the other guy looks worse?” Andrei puts his phone on the desk and leans forward.

Sergei lifts a shoulder. “They feel worse than they look, but they will live.” He frowns over the prospect. The man has been in a sour mood for months; a clean kill might lighten his spirits.

“What did they tell you?” I drop my phone into my lap. It’s almost four o’clock and Marlena hasn’t left the salon all day.

“They work with Jimmy. He told them about our VIP parking and sent them to scout out the cars. They weren’t supposed to break into anything, just check out what sort of inventory they could get from the garage.”

“Why would Michael Agosti allow his nephew to go shopping in our lot?” Andrei asks. We don’t deal with the Italians, and we don’t get involved in their dealings.

It’s the one agreement we have with them. We stick to our own territories. Which means our businesses are off limits to him and his men.

“Maybe he didn’t,” I point out. “Jimmy got sent away for a few years and Michael didn’t do anything to stop that. A simple payoff would have worked. You know how many politicians they have in their pockets. Maybe Jimmy has a grudge about it. Trying to go on his own now, behind his uncle’s back.”

My stomach knots knowing Marlena had anything to do with such dangerous and callous men. Jimmy could have implicated her in his crimes, and she would have been swept off to prison.

An image of her in a cage, withering away behind bars flashes in my mind.

We don’t deal within the law; too much money can be made outside of it. But we aren’t thieves. We don’t steal to make a buck; we broker deals that satisfy all parties.

Anything we sell comes to us through sales channels otherwise unavailable to the common man. But we don’t cower in the dark and pick pockets.

“Did you get the information I wanted?” I broach the subject of Marlena’s dealings with Jimmy and Michael.

“I did.” Sergei nods hard. “You were right there, too. Jimmy blames her for getting pinched years ago. Says she owes him. He’s blackmailing her. She pays him two thousand every two weeks or he’s gonna turn over evidence that she helped lift a car that belonged to the Donato family.”

My jaw tightens. The Donatos are more disgusting than the Agosti family.

“What evidence?” I ask.

“I’m not really sure. It was getting harder to understand them by the time I got around to these questions.” He shrugs again and pours another shot for himself.

“If the Donatos find out about her involvement, it could be dangerous for her.” Andrei locks eyes with me. “They hold grudges, and if she was involved with the Agostis at the time, they could use it as an excuse to make a move against them. The last thing we need is getting involved with the Italians’ little territory disputes.”

“You suggest I leave this alone? Let this scum go after Marlena?” It’s not going to fucking happen. I will take on the Agosti and Donato families together by myself if I need to. She will not be left to deal with this mess on her own.

“Of course not. You wouldn’t even if I did. What I suggest is we get more information. If we go after Jimmy and Michael backs him, we’d be stepping in business that’s not ours. We need to find out if Michael backs this blackmail or if Jimmy is going against Michael.”

“If Marlena is involved in this, then it is my business. I don’t care which Italian I need to take down to fix it.” I have never gone against either of my cousins, but he is not the ruler here. As much as I’d like his strength behind me, I go forward with or without them.

Andrei leans back in his chair and gives a little gesture of his chin toward the door of his office.

“You don’t have to stop talking. I heard most of what you were saying.” Izzy, his new bride, waltzes into the office. “I wasn’t trying to listen in, but I heard Viktor say Marlena’s name.”

“Your friend might be in some trouble.” Andrei stands to welcome his wife with a kiss.

“Why?” She looks at me. “Are you pushing her? I told you, she will only run faster if you push. You have to go easy. She’s like a skittish cat; if you move too fast, she takes off.”

“I don’t think she would like you talking about her that way,” I say, though she’s right. Every time I’ve moved too fast, Marlena reacts by trying to bolt.

“She knows it’s true.” Izzy smiles. “What’s the trouble? I talked to her this afternoon, and she didn’t say anything.”

I arch a brow. “Did she mention me?”

“Only that you forced your way onto the bus this morning.” She laughs. “I can only imagine.”

“You took the bus?” Andrei deadpans. “The CTA bus?”

“It was a compromise.” I shrug.

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