His relationship with the Crofts.
If Nate Collins was jacking with any of the three, he was as good as dead.
“Stay calm.”
“I am calm.”
“Liar.”
“Shut up. No one likes a know it all.”
He laughed.
Today was an odd day.
Greyson was going to write it on his calendar. Emma stayed inside without a fight, Dimitri was wrong about reading a person, and Heath was falling in love with a Russian killer.
Yeah, an odd day.
Now, they’d see how much worse it could possibly get.
Inside the coffee shop, they ordered some baked goods, grabbed coffees, and took a seat in a corner. They knew the waitress wouldn’t have much time.
So why make her suffer.
The least they could do was feed her—especially if she had something they could use.
This was making them both beyond curious. How could it not?
A secret note?
Come on.
This was right up their alley.
Emma would be jealous to miss out on this one—and the sweet goodies that Greyson was about to enjoy.
In fact, he rubbed his hands in anticipation as he stared at them on the paper napkins.
“That shit is toxic,” Dimitri warned.
“I’ve never seen you eat a donut.”
“I don’t.”
“Why not?”
“Uh, toxic?”
He didn’t care.
Greyson was just about to shove an eclair in his piehole when she came in.
Sitting, she kept her voice low.
“Thank you for meeting me,” she said, looking around like she was a spy, and the CIA was about to blow her cover.
Was this overkill?
They couldn’t imagine how it couldn’t be.
He read her name off of her uniform.
“Karina, what’s going on?” Dimitri asked. “It had to be important for you to slip me a note like that. Talk to me.”
She slouched down in the booth as Greyson slid a coffee toward her.
She warmed her shaking hands on it.
What was this?
Quietly, she spoke, “Mr. Gideon, he lied to you in the club.”
“About what?” he asked.
“Both of those men have been in here. I’ve seen them. They were with another man.”
“WHO?” Dimitri asked, hating that Greyson had called this one, and he hadn’t.
“A man named Tommy Shepherd.”
It didn’t ring any bells.
“Who is he?”
“He’s Nate’s business partner.”
That was curious since Neptune was his business, not Nate’s. Why would he be having business meetings in a place that he didn’t own?
Why would he lie?
That was the big question, and as far as Dimitri was concerned, he was going to get the answers.
“His business partner?” Dimitri asked.
“Yes, sir. They meet here all of the time. He’s there most days, and in fact, you just missed him. He was there this morning to check-in with Nate.”
That befuddled him.
What the bloody hell was this?
Dimitri could feel his blood pressure rising.
Beside him, Greyson kicked him in the leg to signal that he needed to calm down. He looked about ready to kill the messenger.
That wasn’t good.
The poor girl looked scared enough.
“His partner in what?”
The girl hesitated.
“You’re safe,” Dimitri promised. “I won’t mention any of this to him.”
She nodded and sipped her coffee.
“What kind of business, Karina?” he asked.
“Prostitution.”
Oh, shit.
Greyson knew Dimitri was going to blow.
“He’s pimping girls out of my club?” he asked, the heat moving up his body.
“Yes, Mr. Gideon. Help us. He’s selling us to patrons.”
Dimitri picked up a donut and shoved it in his mouth. He sat there and chewed, and Greyson stared at him.
Holy hell.
Someone was going to die.
Nate…he was a dead man.
Chapter Twelve
T ruthfully, Dimitri wanted to kill the man. There were a few things that would put him over the edge, and someone pimping out women from his business was one of them. Dimitri created safe places for women, and this man had the audacity to come into his place of business and use it as a front to peddle flesh?
Really?
Well, that was not going to work for him.
He was pretty sure he was going to have a stroke since his eye was twitching.
Yeah, this was going to be a bitch, and he knew it. He’d neglected this business, assuming everything was fine.
Clearly, it wasn’t.
“What happened, Karina?” Greyson asked.
“I applied for a job,” she stated. “I started working there, and Nate began getting weird. He told me that if I didn’t listen, and do what he asked, I’d lose my job. Mr. Gideon, I need this job. It’s not easy to find work in Vegas that doesn’t include flipping burgers.”
Dimitri sat there silently, allowing Greyson to run this questioning. If he didn’t, he’d lose it.
“Tell us about what’s going on, Karina,” Greyson stated, “and you won’t lose your job. I promise.”
“I can’t. I have a child at home. This is how I pay my bills and feed him. I knew it was too good to be true,” she stated.
“It’s not,” Greyson offered. “I can reassure you that Mr. Gideon, nor myself, knew about this. We wouldn’t tolerate it.”
“He tells everyone we are trapped because you’ll hurt us.”
Dimitri actually twitched.
Oh, Nate was a dead man.
“He lied, Karina. We wouldn’t do that. He’s using fear and that’s wrong,” Greyson offered. “Dimitri doesn’t hurt women. He helps them,” he offered, defending his friend.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Gideon,” she said, wary of him. “I didn’t know what to do. I can’t do this anymore. I had to take a chance. He knows where I live, and he threatened my child if I ever said anything.”
Oh, that was the breaking point.
Someone had just threatened his kids, and Greyson knew Dimitri wouldn’t tolerate that.
It looked like Heath was going to be hiding a body for them later. He could take Nikita.
It could be a date.
“He’s fucked,” Dimitri said.
Greyson knew his friend was on the edge. He didn’t use profanity in front of women—let alone strangers.
They knew they needed to get to the bottom of this, and that meant the woman telling them everything—even if Dimitri lost it.
“How’s it going down, Karina?” he asked.
“Men come in, and they order us like we’re on a menu. Then we leave with them, do what they want, and come back to work. We don’t even get paid for those jobs. He keeps it all.”
“If you’ll excuse me,” Dimitri said, getting up. When he left the table, Greyson sent a text to Heath to follow him.
He knew where he was going, and someone was going to be bleeding all over Neptune.
Immediately, Nikita came inside to keep an eye on Greyson. She sat beside him.
Karina looked nervous.
“This is Nikita. She’s my bodyguard. She won’t hurt you, Karina.”
Nikita smiled and stole one of Greyson’s donuts so she didn’t look so threatening.
Then she stole his coffee.
“Really?” he asked. “I get carbs on the DL, and you couldn’t get your own?”
“Ladies before gentlemen.”
He rolled his eyes.
“Go on, Karina.”
“This Tommy guy, Nate’s partner, has been sending girls out. I don’t want to do that, Mr. Croft.”
Oh, he didn’t blame her at all.
The whole thing was shitty, and women deserved to be treated better than that.
“Those two men we showed your boss. Are they part of it?” he asked.
“They are in there a lot. They come in, a girl leaves with them, and then she comes back.”
“Has anyone gone missing?”
She thought about it.
“No.”
Well, that still didn’t explain who the hell was picking Candice French up at her school. They had the school pickup, the motel pickup, and now the club pickup.
How much sex was Zachary Lipton buying?
He was curious.
Pulling up a picture, he showed her the man in question, that he hoped to tie to Lipton.
“Have you seen him?” he asked, showing her a picture of the ex-commissioner.
She shook her head.
“No.”
Well, Jeffrey Raye wasn’t meeting Zachary Lipton in there. That was good. Dimitri would really flip his shit if the man was hanging out in his club.
He was already on the edge.
They didn’t need to shove him off further.
“I knew that if I didn’t say something today, Mr. Croft, I wouldn’t see Mr. Gideon again. I hope he’s not pissed at me or the girls.”
Greyson reached into his inner suit pocket.
She actually flinched in fear.
“I won’t hurt you,” he stated. “Will I, Nikita?” he asked, trying to get the woman to relax.
She smiled.
“Never. He’s a pussycat. Can I have another donut?”
He wasn’t hungry anymore. Greyson shoved the last one closer and then pulled out his checkbook.
It was bonus time.
Filling it out, he asked how to spell her name.
She told him.
When he was done, he ripped it off, and he handed it to her. Karina’s eyes went huge.
“That’s more than I make a year. I can’t accept this, Mr. Croft. I was only doing what’s right.”
He was aware how much she made, but what she didn’t realize was she saved Dimitri’s business with her courage.
Neptune was THEIR business since he and Dimitri shared them. Since one of THEIR employees was making an innocent woman fornicate to make some scumbag money, he had to rectify that.
That was NOT going to fly.
Not on their watch.
“Mr. Croft…”
“Take it, buy a home, or put it away for your child’s education, Karina. I have a son coming. I know that as a parent, there’s nothing we wouldn’t do for them. Now, go home, and take today off. Thank you for this, Karina. Your bravery means a lot of people will be safe today. Tomorrow, be back to work.”
Tears filled her eyes as she folded the check and held it like it was precious gold.
“Thank you, Mr. Croft. Thank you!”
The woman grabbed her coffee and stopped five feet from the table before turning around to come back.
“What they say about you is bullshit. I wish I came to you sooner.”
She gave him a kiss on the cheek and left.
“Awww, someone is a puddle of non-mob mush.”
“Zip it. We have a problem.”
“What?” she asked.
“We have to go stop Dimitri,” Greyson said, as Nikita shoved a whole donut in her mouth.
“Mmfph Mrffomp ffoo.”
“What’s he going to do?” he translated. “He’s going to kill someone and get his ass tossed in jail.”
And that was something he couldn’t let happen.
Not on his watch.
* * * G R E Y S O N C R O F T * * *
Neptune
Wednesday Afternoon
When Dimitri got there, Nate, his manager, was all smiles and joviality. That was until Heath grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him, kicking and begging, into the back of the business to have a little talk.
It was time to end this bullshit.
This kind of thing was NOT going on in his club.
It was an affront to everything he stood for, and what Neptune meant to him.
This place was sacred.
It had been made for Katerina, and not to be used as a place to whore out innocent women. That hit a little close to home, and Dimitri was NOT having it.
With the mermaid tanks to his back, and Heath holding the man still in a chair, he began interrogating…err…questioning him.
And it was no holds barred.
“Are you running a brothel out of my fucking business?” he asked point blank.
With Greyson’s assessment of the man, and then Karina’s information, he knew who he was going to believe.
It wasn’t Nate.
“Sir!”
Dimitri punched him in the gut.
HARD.
The man hunched over and nearly puked on Dimitri’s shoes. Dimitri hoped he’d had lunch.
It just might be his last meal.
“Again. Are you forcing women I employee, women who need their jobs, to service men for you and your pimp buddy?” Dimitri asked.
There was that cold, dead even tone in his voice. It was the calm before he went over the edge and killed someone.
This was going to be bad—for Nate Collins.
“Sir,” he began, only to be hit again.
He went pale.
“Do you think you have the right to terrorize women, make them feel like they’re garbage, and use their bodies to make a profit at my business?”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Dimitri punched him three more times.
Nate finally lost it.
He puked.
“You have some nerve to come into my business daily, forcing women, who trust me, to do things against their will, and to tell them I’ll hurt them! Oh, you’re wrong. I’ll hurt you. They are safe. They are the victims!”
He placed his hand on the man’s windpipe and cut off his air. Dimitri watched as he squirmed in the chair Heath held him in.
Then as his lips began going blue, and his eyes got huge, Dimitri felt no mercy.
He didn’t let up, and he didn’t plan on it.
When Greyson came in, he knew the man was seconds from passing out and then dying.
He grabbed Dimitri’s hand.
“Stop,” he ordered.
Dimitri glared at him.
He wasn’t angry with Greyson. He was pissed at the fact that he’d missed the signs. He’d let them down.
“He pimped women out of MY establishment!” he raged. “MY safe place for employees!”
He was aware.
Only, they couldn’t kill him.
Yet.
“We need him alive, so he can talk. We also need him not to be murdered in front of an audience. THINK. You have children who need you, and you promised Poppy to come home at night. You have a life. A family. THINK, my brother,” he said in Russian.
Man.
That second language thing was coming in handy.
With Greyson’s words, it calmed him down.
Greyson was right.
The mermaid tank was a window into what was being done in the back room.
The whole Poppy being raped, his sisters being abused, and Petra being sold off for sex was getting to him. Dimitri was seconds from losing it.
He punched the man in the face, and Heath let him fall out of the chair and to the floor.
Behind him, he heard tapping on the glass.
When he turned, he found six mermaids watching, and they were clapping under water.
“Get him up, Heath.”
The man did.
“Close the place down,” Dimitri stated. “It’s Nate’s day of reckoning.”
Nikita went off to do as he asked.
“Let me handle this,” Greyson stated. “For you, let me handle it.”
He straightened his hair.
“He’s dead, Greyson. Not today, maybe not tomorrow, but Nate has signed his death warrant. I’ve gone soft. It’s time I remind an
yone in this town who knows me that I’m still that man. Beneath it all, beneath the Croft family name, I am still that killer. I have not changed.”
Greyson was aware.
Only, he was trying to save a man.
Not Nate.
NO.
Dimitri.
Before it was too late.
When the man came to, he was tied naked to a chair, and there was a woman standing in front of him. She had her foot on his junk as she smiled down at him.
He was disoriented.
“Boss, he’s awake,” Nikita stated.
Greyson came his way.
When Nate looked around, every single employee at the place was standing there. They were wearing robes to cover their nakedness—if they were mermaids, and the rest were in street clothes.
“What’s going on?”
Greyson pulled a chair out and sat across from him as Nikita stood between them.
“It’s time to play a game I call Russian Roulette. Only, it’s not your normal version. I’m the gun, she’s the bullet. Give me the answer I want, and you don’t die.”
She stepped down on his balls.
The man howled.
As soon as she let up, he was panting like a dog in the heat. Clearly, he got the point. Now was NOT the time to screw around.
“Were you pimping out these women?”
He went to say no, and Nikita punched him. His head whipped back, and he lost a tooth.
He whimpered in pain.
“I’m not fooling around, Nate. I’ve already got all my answers from these lovely ladies. This is about you gaining your life back. If you lie, you die.”
He glanced over at the girls.
“Please someone call the cops.”
Greyson laughed.
“Every single woman here needed this job. You only hired women who desperately needed the money to survive. Then you could use them to fund your sick business, right?”
Nikita lowered her foot when he didn’t answer.
“YES!” he screeched as she pushed on his balls.
“Who is Tommy Shepherd?” Greyson continued.
“A guy I know! He wanted to make a quick buck, and it was easy money.”
Oh, while it was the truth, he didn’t like that answer. He didn’t like women being treated like this.
Period.
No Justice_A Croft Mob Family Book Page 41
