Page 124 of Hard Luck (Blackstone House)

“What happened to them?”

“You definitely don’t want to know that. When you go back to Vegas, you need to watch your back, okay? It wasn’t a one-off, and I’m not sure the situation has been resolved yet. At the time, I figured they were there for me because, let’s face it, I’m great at pissing people off. But then we met again when Thelma broke down, and you told me about Jimmy, and I got to thinking what if I was wrong?”

“Jimmy? I haven’t heard a word from Jimmy since he came to my office.”

“But he’s been sending messages.”

“Well, I haven’t received any.”

“Yes, you have. Lucy was a message.”

“Lucy? The cops said that was a problem with a motorcycle club.”

“The cops are idiots. And I think in hindsight, the four men at your home were just there to deliver a post-Jimmy warning. Scare you a bit. But I saw guns, and I wasn’t about to let them tiptoe upstairs to your bedroom.”

“You say they were shooting. Where were all the bullet holes? I didn’t see any bullet holes.”

And Bella had told so many lies—what was one more?

“Yeah, so we took care of that.”

“Took care of it? What do you mean, took care of it?”

“Cleaned the place up. Spackled the holes and painted. I’m sorry about Tinkerbell, by the way. The team tried to match the new paint to the existing paint, and they didn’t check whether it was non-toxic.”

“I can’t believe this.”

“Yeah, well, that’s up to you. I’m also sorry about Lucy. We were monitoring you, but not your staff at that time.”

“Why do you think Lucy’s acci— injury was something to do with this Jimmy guy?”

“Whoever is behind this is basically hiring psychos offthe dark web so he doesn’t have to get his hands dirty. ‘Jimmy’ was probably an out-of-work actor.”

“How do you even know that?”

“You remember when we went for breakfast at the Sunrise Diner?”

How could Cole forget? He’d never before been to a restaurant where a guy got wheeled away on a stretcher, plus Bella had walked out on him. That morning was burned into his brain for eternity.

“What happened in the bathroom, Bella?”

“The guy shoved me into a stall and tried to strangle me. Obviously, it didn’t work out as he hoped, and it’s doubtful he can have children anymore.”

“Is he still alive?”

Bella nodded. “But he doesn’t know much. Chances are, we’ll let him go when it’s over.”

“When what’s over?”

“When we find the person pulling the strings.”

“Nobody in the finance department could find any evidence of the debt he spoke about. The only loans on the books have a clear counterparty. Banks, mostly, but there’s also a high-interest loan with a fund that specialises in distressed businesses. That’s secured on the house, so there wasn’t really any need to fill in the bullet holes. The place will be sold soon anyway.”

“You’re taking this better than I thought you would.”

“My life fell apart the day I received the phone call from Uncle Mike’s attorney. Things have only gone downhill from there.”

“If it wasn’t for the threat to your life, I would have walked away, I swear.”

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