“But legit money is hard to get. I didn’t want to screw up my nightclub financing just for six months cash flow. Lachlan reached out to a couple of sources but those who were willing to fund a concept venue wanted a long-term stake or ownership.”
“Your friend introduced you to Garrison?” I got up, shaking my head. By the time I returned from the bathroom, my face had lost its tear stains and the teapot had been replenished.
“We had the deal. You girls had come in and served the drinks. I thought the deal was set.”
“He reneged?”
“Lachlan tried to get a better deal by hinting we had options. Garrison took offence, or he took the opportunity of pretending to be offended. He demanded satisfaction.”
“You offered me up to satisfy Garrison?” Seriously, Ibby couldn’t make this shit up. How the hell did he expect me to accept my part in his business arrangement?
“No, he questioned my confidence in being able to repay him. He wanted your employment contracts. He promised you could resign, that the worst you’d have is to serve out your notice period. He spun some shit that people buy and sell businesses all the time, that this wasn’t any different.”
It was.
Ibby knew it, and so did I. This had been a very personal business transaction with Chelle and I being the named pawns.
“I promise you; I’ve tried getting out of it. I’ve tried to convince Garrison to leave you out of it.”
I didn’t care.
Yes, I heard him out, but I no longer cared.
I didn’t care the extent that Ibby claimed he tried to make Chelle and I safe.
I didn’t care how sorry he was, or how the timing happened before we’d danced.
The more he talked, the greater the hole he dug for himself and whatever I thought we had.
Daddy thought my ex-boyfriend was the biggest mistake of my life. How I wished that would be true. No, the biggest mistake was believing in the chemistry I’d felt with Ibby. I’d believed in and fallen in love with the total package that was Ibrahim Mercia.
Loved him to the extent what he’d done or had been willing to do hurt more than when daddy banished me from the family.
We’d missed lunch at his parents’ by the time Ibby finished talking.
“Katie, please tell me that you forgive me?” He pleaded from his seat, still on the floor. Each time he edged closer; I pulled my knees up. “Please tell me that you understand.”
“I can’t.”
“At least tell me that you’ll stay living here.”
“Why the hell would I do that?”
“So, I can keep you safe.”
“Really?” I snorted. “You’ll keep me safe from Garrison, but whose gonna keep me safe from you?”
“Katie, please. I never meant to hurt you.”
“Are you seriously going to stand there and tell me that you put Chelle and I up as security for your business deal, but you were never going to hand over our employment contracts to Garrison?”
“I never thought—I mean, the cash flow was good. There was nothing in the numbers to suggest that I wouldn’t be able to pay Garrison back.”
“So, what changed, I mean my friends and I worked social media hard. We got traction and CandyShop was packed. It all seemed to be going fine. Money had to be pouring in.”
“You mean about the time the Kingsmen and Redbacks decided to use my nightclubs as the playing field for their business discussions?”
I hadn’t thought about it like that. “I guess.”
“Katie, they fucked me over. Police and bikers were bad for business. Punters stayed away; cash registers stopped turning over. Nothing I did worked.”
I believed him. The stress he’d been hiding was now obvious in hindsight. The sleepless nights, the constant working and reworking of cost estimates for The Venue. His almost obsession with minute by minute schedule.
Ibby had been working as hard to fight for his business as he’d fought to keep secrets from me.
I waited. Wanting to reach out and offer him my support, my forgiveness. But I couldn’t. Nothing I could say would make things better. Far better I listen and not make any rash decisions.
“I underestimated Garrison,” Ibby admitted softly. Without warning, he tried to rest his chin on the edge of my chair, only stopping when I recoiled.
“He was the one who abducted me, right?”
“I promise you, I never thought he’d go that far.”
Ibby looked up at my scoff.
“Okay, yes, I knew he was interested in you and Chelle, but I promise you.” He waited until my eyebrows dropped and I was ready to listen. “I promise you; I had no idea he’d kidnap you. Babe, he’d promised me you could resign the moment your employment contracts went to him.”
For a smart man, Ibby was clueless. Men like Garrison weren’t going to sit back and let a woman walk away from him.
“What on earth did you think he was going to do?” Ibby had to back away quickly to miss my foot. Memories from lying on the concrete floor, my fear of what could happen, everything came flooding back and I needed to pace the room. “Even if we resigned, in your world, he would still own us.”
“Babe, I never thought—”
“No!” I stopped him midsentence. “Tell me, in your mind, in your scenario, what did you think he’d do to us for that month before we escaped him?”
I ran to the bathroom, losing the tea and biscuit. The thought of what Garrison could have done not only during the month, but what about Chelle? What if he’d threatened Chelle if I didn’t stay?
Ibby was waiting for me at the doorway, offering a wet cloth to wash my face and a glass of water. I hesitated before accepting both.
“Are you okay?” Did he mean my stomach or the whole betrayal? Did it matter?
“Was that all I’ve ever been—a pretty blonde asset for you to move around your own personal chessboard?”
“No, never.”
“Bullshit.”
“Katie, I never saw you like that.”
“Bullshit.”
“I never thought it would come to this. Garrison sabotaged The Venue, and the bikers.”
“Yeah, always someone else’s fault. Why can’t you man up and admit what you did was fucked up. It was wrong.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“For what? Making me fall in love with you only to prove that you never cared about me.”
“I did, I do.”
“No, you care about yourself and your business. I was only ever a business transaction to you.”
“Katie, please, for the love of all that we had, please believe me that I never meant for you to be put at risk.”
“Yet, from what I saw, it was your decision. Garrison may have asked, but you could have said no. You could have stood there and told him that your staff are not pawns to be moved and used at will.”
“I tried. That’s when he assured me that you could resign at any time.”
“I resign, effective immediately.”
“Sweetheart, you can’t. He will come after you.”
“I just did.” I threw the washcloth at him, at least it wasn’t the glass. “Please get out of my way so I can give it to you in writing and believe me, it’ll be the last thing I ever give you.”
“Sweetheart, Katie,” Ibby begged, standing in my way, palms open and to my chest. “Right now, you’re angry and you have every right to hate me.”
“You’ve got that right, get out of my way.”
I tried to push back, but Ibby stood his ground, “Katie, please. I can’t change what I did. I’ve tried, but the truth is, until I make that last payment it doesn’t matter whether you are technically working at The Club or if you resign. Garrison will do whatever he wants to try and stop me from making that final payment. If you leave, he’ll track you down.”
“Why? Why me?”
“He wants you. All of this was because he wants you.”
“How could you possibly know.”
“You remember my friend, Lachlan Marriot?”
“The dealmaker who’s in all the press?”
“Yeah, we go back years. Anyway, he’s been trying to get new funding but everywhere he turns, it keeps falling through. From what friendlies have told him, Garrison wants you. No one wants to get involved.”
“Why not,” I asked, knowing the answer before Ibby even spoke.
“They don’t want to get Garrison offside.”
“There’s more, just tell me.”
“No one thinks getting Garrison offside over a couple of girls is worth it. Even if they hand over the money, they don’t want to negotiate your employment contract.”
“What does that mean for us?”
“What do you mean us,” Ibby asked.” “You and me, or you and Chelle.”
The man was still clueless. “You and I are no longer an us.”
Damn him, my tears had dried up before he’d come home. Now I had to choke back a fresh batch. “I can’t believe you included me as a security in some business deal. There is no us. I might not be able to resign, but you and I will never be an us again. Do you hear me?”
Clutching my handbag, I didn’t care about the rest of my things. I could catch a bus back down to Meringa and hopefully Felicity could hide me until—I didn’t even know until when.
Again, Ibby got between me and my destination. Blocking my path with the softest eyes and gentle smile. He had no right to have either. He had no right to affect me.
“Babe, Habibti qalbi, please, you need to listen to me.”
“Why?” The true question would be why am I still listening to anything this man said?
“I get that you’re pissed off with me, and you have every right to. But if you leave here, I can’t protect you. No one will storm our home to take you, but if you leave, I can’t protect you.”
“Why do you care?” The tears refused to halt, only now they’d become full body tears. “He’s going to get me whether I’m here or not. The only question is whether he gets me served up on a bloody platter with your gift card. And let’s face it, you don’t give a damn anyway.”
“Katie, Katie, Katie,” he moaned. “I care far more than you think I do. Please, please, please, Katie at least stay here until I get this mess sorted out.”
“Why? Why do you think I could possibly stay here with you?”
“I promise. You can have free reign around the house. Treat it as your own. I’ve already made plans to double the security and you’ll never need to be alone with me.”
Fear, anger, hurt, betrayal. It didn’t matter, I couldn’t stop trembling. I’d never loved a man as much as I loved the one standing in my way. But whatever I thought I’d felt, he’d never felt the same. He could never see me as a girlfriend, wife or even a life partner. I knew our culture; men didn’t treat women they respected as business assets.
All I’d ever been to Ibby was a set of boobs and legs. One to trade and the other to open. But even I could see walking out the door wouldn’t be the smartest move.
“I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to talk to you.”
“All I want is for you to be safe.” Ibby coaxed me back to the lounge. “Actually, that’s not true. I want you to understand how sorry I am. I let my ego take control of my better judgement. I should never have made a deal with Garrison.”
“Too late for that.”
“Katie, please believe I’ll do everything within my power and influence to make sure you are safe. Not just you, but you and Chelle. I’ll do everything to make sure Garrison doesn’t get your employment contracts.”
We stared at his buzzing phone. I realized it had been buzzing almost non-stop while we’d been talking. By now, I knew his routine and when his people needed him. Whatever was happening, it was out of the ordinary.
Sunday afternoon had never been busy at the nightclubs, or The Club. By now, Ricardo should have allowed his teams to down tools at The Venue. I couldn’t think of any good reason for Ibby’s phone to be blowing up.
Ibby had chosen to talk to me, rather than check his phone.
Maybe, he did care?
“You might as well check your messages,” I sighed. “I’ll move my things back into my original room.”
As much as I wanted to head upstairs and hide in my bedroom, I waited until Ibby checked his messages. His face grew darker, eyes closed as he listened to five, maybe six?
“Fuck!”
Even though I expected an outburst, I instinctively flinched as his phone skidded across the floor. Only coming to a rest when it bounced off the coffee table leg.
He made no motion for me to not listen, so I waited at the base of the staircase. Not exactly listening, but not out of sight or earshot. After all, I reasoned, chances were whatever he’d be talking about had something to do with this stupid deal he’d made.
“Yeah, wassup?” He punched a wall during a long pause.
“I thought we had it sorted, I mean, I only left them a few hours ago. How much could go ape-shit in less than a day.” Ibby shot me an apologetic look before an even longer pause.
“Seriously, Luther and Karnal had a deal—no, I was there and heard them.”
Another deal? Seriously? I didn’t even want to wait around and find out what sort of deal Ibby had gotten into this time. If it had something to do with the bikers, it couldn’t end well. Not after the way the two groups were tearing apart the city. While waiting for morning, I’d checked out my friends’ social media accounts. Most had stopped going out in the city. Those who did weren’t just avoiding Ibby’s clubs but any clubs in the same street. According to rumors, it was only a matter of time before one of the groups shot up a nightclub and no one wanted to be collateral damage.
Bikers seemed cool and sexy until they went to war.
Watching Ibby make half a dozen phone calls, I wished my heart could catch up with my head.
My life would get a hell of a lot easier if I could find a way to hate him. He’d given me enough reasons.
I hated the situation.
I hated feeling helpless.
But I couldn’t hate Ibrahim Mercia.
Not that I was about to hug him, stroke his face and assure him things would work out. No. Any show of affection or forgiveness would be a step too far, at least today. Living in his home would be difficult but moving out of his bedroom would be a good first step.
“Are you shitting me?” Ibby yelled before dropping his voice to almost a whisper. “Altogether, how bad? How much is this going to cost me?”
Now, I struggled to hear whether it was a whispered conversation or another long pause. He clenched his eyes closed, speaking before they reopened, “Then fucking pay it—no I don’t know where I’ll get the money from, just pay it.”
Before I could go to him, tell him to walk away. That his self-respect was worth more than any business, Ibby opened his eyes and continued. Voice strong and sure, “She’s worth it. I don’t care, I said pay it.”
Three fingers of Ibby’s best scotch had helped me drift off to sleep. Not that I could manage more than five hours before it was time to get ready for work, again.
I’d at least remembered to rinse my uniform for another shift, but Ibby caught me bringing it from the laundry back to my room.
“Please don’t.”
It didn’t seem right to either remind him I didn’t want to talk, or to ask about all the phone calls. “I have to work.”
“I’ll cover your wage—not because of what we were, but because it’s my fault you can’t go into work.”
“The Club is as much Darius’ as yours.”
“I know, but I’d feel better if you could find a way to stay here. Invite a couple of friends over, do whatever you want, but please stay here. The house is protected, all the cameras have a direct feed to the nightclub security. If anyone tries anything here, reinforcements will meet them before they even try leaving the street.”
My uniform dropped to the flo
or. What was the point?
“I hate you,” I spat, hoping he wouldn’t see through my lie. “I never want to work for you again.”
Instead of letting me go, Ibby picked up and folded my uniform. “Babe, I understand and hopefully I can say or do something to change your mind, but please, listen to me and believe me.”
“Why should I repeat my mistakes?”
“Well because right now, I want you to live long enough so when you hate me for the rest of your life, it’s a long and happy one.”
“Other than my visitor, things were fine last night.” I didn’t want to believe him. “What changed?”
“The phone call. I’ll get it sorted, but I need to go out for a while.”
“Ibby, I’m sick of the half-truths and secrets. Talk to me. What changed?”
“Check your online news feeds. One of the Redbacks didn’t like the deal his boss made. Shit is going down and Luther thinks Garrison is fanning the flames.”
“Why?”
“The bastard hates losing. I’ve got six days.”
“Will you make it?”
“Babe, I hope so.” Ibby couldn’t even face me. The opposite to the Ibrahim Mercia who had ladies handing over their panties and morals at the front door. This man seemed resigned to his failures. “I don’t know, but right now I want you and Chelle safe. Darius has got Chelle stashed away somewhere and if I could send you away for your own good, I would.”
“Why don’t you?”
“Because Garrison might want both of you, but he’s made it clear that you are his priority. I’d put serious money on him having eyes on this place. You leave, then he’ll either follow or take it as an opportunity.”
“I hate this. I hate feeling scared.”
Since my father kicked me out, my dreams seemed impossible. The idea of one day starting my own business, falling in love and getting married to a man who could also be my best friend. Raising children and teaching them how to cook and watching my parents become doting grandparents.
I’d never cared about fancy clothes, jewelry or material things.
I wanted the things money could never buy.
Impossible fucking dreams.
Ibby would lose the deal. I’d be handed over to Garrison—or taken against my will.
Hard Bargain: a Billionaire Suspense Romance (City Sinners Book 3) Page 20
