by Ruby Vincent
Leather molded to my backside like it was fitted for it. Everything in here was buttons and touch screens. Even the gearshift was done away for the sleek silver buttons in its place.
The dash screen lit up on the slam of Cash’s door. A robot voice filled the car. “Good afternoon, sir.”
“Start,” he ordered. The engine purred to life.
“Even the car has to kowtow to you. And all the people who were shocked raised their hands.” I made a show of looking around. “Look at that. No one’s hands are up.”
“Play Count Basie,” Cash said.
“Playing Count Basie. Enjoy your music, sir.”
“Count Basie? I’ll raise my hand for that. I didn’t peg you for a jazz fan.”
“Why would you?” He reversed out of the drive. “You know nothing about me.”
“We could do something about that. I’m told you’ve got a story worth hearing.”
Cash turned the music up to deafening.
At this rate, I could chip at that iceberg for a decade and not make a dent.
I gave into Cash’s obvious request for silence and turned my attention to my phone. Dad didn’t text, but his nurse and home aides did. I checked in with them, seeing how he was doing. I was caught up in the fascinating story of how my father tried to help his neighbor escape over the wall when the music shut off.
“Listen up, Redgrave.”
“Ah, you’re bestowing your attention upon me now. This must be... important.” I looked up and noticed my surroundings.
We weren’t in Waterford anymore. Surrounding me were chic and stubby little buildings that hadn’t reached their skyscraper potential. Orderly rows of trees stretched out of the concrete. Narrow streets lit by lampposts all bore the only mark of graffiti that dare grace this borough.
A crown.
“What are we doing in Harlow, Cash?”
Cash drove into a pizzeria parking lot. He killed the engine in a spot facing the street. “See that club over there. Paradise.”
“Yeah. What about it?”
“How much do you know about the Kings?”
“I know they’re not to be messed with. That was enough for me to go on.”
“Sex, pain, and money,” he stated. “That’s their business in this borough and the rest. The high-priced escorts are managed by them. The underground fight network is promoted by the Kings. Plus, the big business, the illegal casinos. They run the games Cinco high-rollers play in, leaving Joe Broke stumbling in after his shift at the steel mill for the rest of us. They’re unstoppable for the mere fact that at any given weekend, they’re raking in hundreds of thousands.”
I nodded slowly. “Makes sense.”
“It also follows that if one is to bring a gang like this down, they have to cut off the tap. End the fight rings. Lure their escorts away. Drive off the coked-up trust fund babies.”
“It follows.”
“Four years ago, Angelo kept it all in one place. An underground club called The Pleasure Center. Then someone was murdered on their doorstep. The police swarmed the place and discovered the club beneath the club. Angelo barely got out of there in time, but half of the members weren’t as lucky. It was a huge bust. So big you must have heard about it.”
“I did,” I admitted. “Our dean was one of the men arrested. Something about an underground sex room and a barely legal girl. But I didn’t know the Kings were involved.”
Cash leaned in his seat, fingers silently drumming the dash. “Since then, Angelo’s gotten smart. He’s split the operation into so many parts, you could shut down one ring and not make a crack in his business. The fights are held by sponsoring members in their penthouses. The ‘sex rooms’ are run out of hotels but we don’t know which.
“Angelo still oversees the casino himself, but the location changes every week. You make a plan to move on one warehouse and it’s already cleared out. That leaves the auction.”
“What’s the auction?” This was the longest conversation Cash and I had, and we saved it for a good topic. I was rapt.
“Exactly what you’re thinking. Men and women with money to spare, bid for a night with the best Cinco’s sex trade has to offer. And tonight, the auction will be held beneath Paradise. That’s where you come in.”
I hummed. “No, I don’t think I do.”
“Angelo handed charge of the auction to a guy named Corbin,” Cash continued. “Corbin has no family. No friends. No pets. His only weakness is Candy.”
“The hardened gangbanger likes candy?”
“I’m told she gives a wicked blow job, so who can blame him?”
“Ah.”
“This is our way in, Redgrave. In the highly unlikely event we survive and take down the biggest gang in Cinco history, it starts here. Candy convinced Corbin you’re a friend looking to make extra cash quick. Tonight, you have two jobs. One is clocking each entrance, exit, and where the guards are stationed. Two is going up for auction.”
“No.”
“Having to split the business was an inconvenience that Angelo does his best to minimize for the valued customers. According to Candy, they’re sent the new locations directly, instead of tracking down a King and paying extra for the knowledge. I’ve narrowed down the people with enough money and influence to get on the valued list. Problem is we can’t get close enough to lift their phones. Their security is too tight.
“Four of the people on our list will attend the auction tonight. As luck would have it, Bryan Acker is one of them. Young, racially ambiguous, sorta redheads are his top choice every day of the week.”
“Too bad he’s not getting any tonight.”
“He’ll outbid everyone for you no question, and once you’re alone, you’ll put this SD card in his phone.” Cash pulled the tiny bit of plastic from his pocket. “It’ll download the spyware that lets us intercept his texts, calls, and emails. You can’t bring anything in but the clothes on your back, but this will be easy to hide in your bra.”
“Not happening.”
“So will this.” A small baggie holding two white pills was held between us. “Suggest a glass of wine before the fun starts, slip this in his drink, and he’ll be out in three minutes.”
“Definitely not happening.”
“I’ll follow close behind. Once it’s done, get out of there and I’ll pick you up.”
“And no,” I announced. “This has been a fun field trip, but it’s time to go. Let’s not do this again soon.”
Cash gave me a look that said they didn’t make them any more irritating than me. “It has to be you, Redgrave. Putting aside the anatomical differences my boys and I can’t overcome. It’d be fatally stupid to set foot in that club when we’re public enemies numbers one through four. It has to be a woman. It has to be one we can trust. So, it has to be you.”
“Get Candy to do it.”
“I circle back to point two. A woman we can trust. Candy told Sinjin to his face she’d turn the Merchants over to the Kings at the first opportunity. She thinks we’re doing this because Bryan Acker paid the Merchants for a job and might have information. She believes she’s splitting a finder’s fee. She doesn’t know we’re coming after the Kings.”
I clicked my tongue. “That’s too bad. But you better get to work. You’ve got ten hours to find someone else.”
Cash fished something out of the glove box and tossed it on my lap. “I found my someone, and this is your payment.”
“Car keys?”
“To your car,” he stated. “Consider your lockdown lifted. If you do this, you can come and go as you please. Visit your old man. Go to lunch with your friends. We’ll give you the codes to the house and the car to speed out of the drive.”
I didn’t pay the shiny, Chevrolet-stamped metal another glance. “You’ll end my unlawful incarceration if I auction myself to a random guy who’ll take me back to his mansion and cut me to pieces while singing showtunes?”
“My research doesn’t point to serial killer tendencie
s.”
“I’m not doing it,” I snapped at the dry reply. “Why would I? I should think a change in status was coming anyway.”
Cash raised a brow. “Why? Because you’re fucking Sinjin?”
“You know, ‘sleeping with’ is a perfectly acceptable term for sex.”
“Call him.” Cash tossed his phone on my lap next. “Ask him how loyalty is proven. You should also ask what he thinks of you being content to kick back on our couch, taking our money, while the Kings hunt and slaughter us in the street.”
“This isn’t my fight. I didn’t ask for any of this.”
“None of us did.”
I scoffed. “Raiden Spencer was the symptom. You’re the disease. We both know the Merchants would’ve gone after them eventually. Whoever you planned to use on that day, call them up now. I’m not your soldier.”
Cash trapped my gaze, holding it steady. It was cruel how mesmerizing he was. I suspect even if he released his hold, I wouldn’t be able to look away. Cash was hard lines and sharp angles. Beautiful and unyielding like the bars of gold desperate to match his glittering pools in brilliance.
“When they find us, and they will find us, it won’t be quick. First, they’ll drain us of money, weapons, and men. After dismantling what we’ve built to the last pickpocket scamming tourists in the park, they’ll track us down in the fire station. It’s fortified, but not impenetrable, and when it comes to Angelo—when there’s a will, there’s a way.
“He and his guys will get in. And any of us left standing”—he dropped his chin, piercing me through—“including you, will be subjected to torture the likes of which you can’t imagine. Rape is not on our rap sheet, but it is on his.”
A lump hardened in my throat.
“We’ll try to stop him, of course, but we’d be outmanned and outgunned. Angelo will violate you while we’re forced to watch, and then you’ll be passed off to his guys—who will either kill you after having their fun, or one of them will keep you. That’s your most hopeful option since you’ll get the chance to make it out alive. Sinjin, Brutal, Mercer, and I won’t receive such mercy. We’ll be mutilated bodies on a fire station floor.”
He raised his head. “You think I’m saying this to scare you. I’m not. My job is details. Numbers. Research. I’ve studied ten years’ worth of King kills—those that made the news and those that didn’t. There’s a reason they flaunt their ownership of this borough for cops, soccer moms, and Petey’s Little League team to see. They have nothing and no one to fear.”
Cash was so hard and cold. I felt I would touch him and find he truly was formed in ice. So I did.
I rested my palm on his wrist, starting at the warm, smooth flesh beneath me. A steady pulse thrummed in his veins. As slow and unrattled as the rest of him.
“You are being honest,” I whispered. “Never thought I’d come to hate that trait.”
He glanced at our hands, his mask of impassivity intact. It was hard to read, but I’d guess my act made him curious, not annoyed. “Our only chance is if we bring the fight to them, Redgrave. We strike when they’re least expecting it. A blow to their empire they can’t come back from.”
“Trojan horse style. The horse being me.” I released a long breath. “This is really the only way?”
“If I had any other option, I assure you I would take it. You’re a wild card. Just as likely to seduce Bryan Acker as kick him in the balls and make a run for it. For all I know, you’re planning to do just that.”
I shook my head. For all you know...
“It’s a simple job, Redgrave, and I’ll be out here the entire time. Are you in or out?”
A million thoughts, rejections, and arguments went through my head staring at Paradise’s bland sign, waiting for nightfall to light the street neon pink. This was not my fight, but it was my life. I would live it on my terms and with the infuriating, blue-haired psycho that got me into this mess until I decided otherwise.
“I’m in.”
Chapter Nine
“Did you know about this?”
“I know everything, Bunny.”
“Is there a reason you didn’t tell me?” I huddled low in the seat, hugging Cash’s coat tighter. The two of us were back in his car, idling in front of the pizzeria.
Harlow’s club street transformed with the setting sun. Sharp-suited men and women in slinky dresses scurried across the road in their heels, hitting the packed pizza place before running back for more booze, dancing, and bathroom sex.
Fourth Street rattled with the bass of a hundred speakers. Coupled with the screaming, shouting, and shrieks of my twentysomething peers, I practically had to yell into the phone for Sinjin to hear me.
“I’m surprised you’re okay with me going home with another man.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? You pull this off and he’ll be drooling into his pillow while you win me my prize. If the plan doesn’t go off that smoothly and he touches you, you’ll kill him and I’ll still get it. That’s a win-win.”
“I don’t resort to murder as quickly as you do, Saint.”
“Remember that, Bunny, because if he lays one finger on you and walks out of that room alive, I’ll have to take over from there.”
“My night isn’t complete without listening to one of your death threats.” I shifted again—skin pimpling at the silk brushing my bare flesh. “Seriously, why did I have to wear this outfit? A little black dress would’ve been fine.”
“You don’t display half of the item up for auction,” Cash said. “Bidders want to see it all.”
My middle finger wasn’t raised at his back that time.
“Whatever you’re wearing, don’t take it off when you get home,” Sinjin threw in. “We’re holding a little show of our own.”
“Fuck you.” And fuck me for being turned on. “Where are you anyway? Why aren’t you here?”
“We’ve all got our duties. I was ambushed by my own men and now we’re down four. I have to refill the ranks while reminding the boys why having me as an enemy is more dangerous than every King in Cinco City.”
My nipples pebbled in the sequined bra thinking of the harsh lessons those calloused hands imparted. Yes, it was definitely me with the problem.
“You’ll be fine,” Sinjin said. “Pour that bottle of wine, and if he doesn’t drink it fast enough, make him wear it around his neck.”
“What’s with you and wine bottles?” I mumbled. I was stalling. I knew it and felt no shame.
“Ever notice how you’re never too far from one? I’d be concerned about this country’s alcohol consumption if it didn’t provide a handy weapon whenever it’s risky to sneak one in. Use it. Kill him. Clone the phone.”
“What happened to killing him being the last resort out of self-defense?”
“I changed my mind. The sad, flabby dick shit should not for a second hold the thought in his head that he can have you. Kill him.”
The line went dead. In Sinjin-land, death orders passed as goodbyes.
I slid the phone in his coat and the coat off my shoulders. The outfit shone on full display.
Large blue and gold sequins decorated the cups and spilled down my stomach on dangly strings. My penchant for boy shorts was ignored. Covering, or I should say not covering, my backside was a matching sequin thong. The look was completed with gold glitter heels that would surely kill me before I could Bryan Acker. Or Cash.
“I look like a clown in the glitter circus cabaret, Cash!”
He openly and aggravatingly smirked. “I wouldn’t say that.”
I blinked. “Is that a compliment?”
“Is it?”
“Ugh. Why did I agree to this? I’m still not convinced you couldn’t have come up with a good lie for Candy.”
“I could’ve but it wouldn’t have done any good. Corbin doesn’t let her in the auctions anymore.”
“Excuse me?” My voice was a low hiss. “If she’s not allowed in there, how do you know her information is any good? This Bryan g
uy might not even show up.”
“Candy might be out, but her friends are not. They say he’s a regular and you’re his type.”
“But—”
“Get out of the car.” Cash leaned over and shoved open my door. “Exits, entrances, guards, Bryan, and phone. Go.”
I got out but not quietly. My steaming tirade didn’t end with the slammed door or my march across the street, collecting appreciative looks and whistles.
“—rigid, unfeeling prick.” Skirting the line, I went around back and spotted the lone man standing before the alley entrance. “Cat-eyed, walking, talking block of ice in a skin suit.”
“Excuse me?”
“Nothing. My name’s...” My lips fought to form the word. “Serenity. I’m here for the auction.”
The guy sized me up with the same scrutiny I gave him. A sturdy mass of muscle topped with a bulbous head held up by a neck the size of a baked ham. He didn’t need backup. No one was getting through him.
“Referral.”
“Candy,” I repeated as Cash told me.
“Code.”
“Whippoorwill.” An odd password but not one easy to guess.
“Rules.”
“Rules?” Cash didn’t mention anything about rules.
“Rules,” he insisted.
I scowled. “The rules are I shiver my ass off in this ridiculous costume for the enjoyment of hooting hyenas. After literally being bought and paid for like an object, I leave with ‘name redacted’ to ‘location redacted’ and we engage in ‘activities redacted.’ I keep my mouth shut and tell no one about anything. That about cover it?”
A smile stretched across his face more unsettling than the dead-eyed stare. “Have a nice night, Miss Serenity.”
He opened his door and bowed me through. I stepped into a pitch-black hallway. Dark, but not silent.
Club music banged on my ears, drawing me forward as my vision adjusted.
Cash says it’s another club within a club. There has to be a—
There.
At the end of the hall, there were two doors. Pulsating, multicolored lights seeped out of one, causing me to try the other.
