by Raven Rivers
“Of course I am aware of that, being a person who receives a percentage of my income from each side of this business.”
“Cash deposits have dropped by almost twenty percent over the last two months.”
“Do you have any ideas about what might be going on?”
“Dina is friendly with the manager. You and I both know that does not bode well for his job performance.”
Intentionally not looking towards the bar where they were sitting, Alek’s lips pressed into a thin line. Dina had been caught grifting the businesses before, so that was a reasonable place to start. “I thought her interest in the manager was a very recent thing.”
Tilting his head slightly, Stiev sighed and told him, “Security says they have been seeing each other off and on again for at least three months.”
“One month to mess with his head and two of reaping the benefits?”
“Braden allows her into his office after hours.”
“This is sounding more and more like an inside job.”
Adjusting his glasses, Stiev instructed, “Get to the bottom of this. You know how Timur hates hemorrhaging cash.” The obshchak slipped from his seat without further comment and headed for the door. He usually called for the car when Timur was ready to leave.
Alek watched his boss stop by the Italian mobster’s table on his way out. Motioning for a refill to their drinks, he spoke casually as he said, “I hope you are finding the service to your liking this evening, Charles.”
Glancing up, the older man’s face morphed from something approaching enchanted to the blank mask that most men in their profession wore.
“All is well, Timur. You have a nice establishment. It makes for a nice change from our own club from time to time.”
“Indeed it does.” Alek knew exactly what his boss was thinking. Mister Nash’s clubs were mostly dens of inequity compared to The Avoy. They were not the kind of place he could take his sweet little wife. She was clearly a lady used to nice things.
Her carefree voice chimed in, “We always have a nice time at The Avoy. It’s one of my favorite night spots.”
Smiling warmly at the lovely woman, Timur responded, “I’m pleased to hear that. You are always as nice as you are beautiful, Misses Nash.”
Her husband tightened his hold on his most prized possession before biting out a snarky reply. “Robbed the cradle with that date of yours, don’t you think?”
Timur’s voice responded smoothly, “Miss Bethany Dradalen is a business associate. Unlike yourself, my evening was filled with work, not pleasure.”
The server laid fresh drinks down.
The man’s mouth twitched up slightly. “That was little Bethany all grown up? I hardly recognized her. She played with my daughters when they were small.”
“I will give her your regards, Mister Nash. Your drinks are on me tonight. Please enjoy your evening.”
Mister Nash’s expression cleared. “Thank you for the drinks.”
Alek’s stomach did a little flip flop. It felt strange to see Timur walk out of the building while he stayed behind. Though he knew at least four men were with him, to Alek’s mind the older man was unprotected without him.
Miss Sabrina slid his drink onto the table in front of him. “I waited until you were finished talking business.”
“You are a smart lady and I appreciate it more than you can know,” he said as he reached for his wallet.
Her small hand came out to cover his hand and she stated playfully, “You know you’re money is no good here.”
“You are too good to me, Miss Sabrina.”
Clutching the tray to her chest, she gave him an appreciative look. “I could be a whole lot nicer if you gave me half a chance. I know you aren’t looking for anything serious, but let me know if you’re ever in the mood for a little cuddle.”
“I find that a difficult offer to resist. When do you get off, Miss Sabrina?”
“Midnight.”
“If I am not otherwise occupied by business, I would love to spend some time with you.”
Grinning, she strutted off to the bar. His gaze followed her in time to see Dina catch his eye before planting a welcomed wet kiss on Braden’s lips. Alek resisted the impulse to roll his eyes. Whatever little game Dina thought she was playing didn’t bother him in the least.
Chapter 3
Inside Job
Alek
Lifting his vodka to his lips, he tilted his head back and allowed it to flow into his mouth and down his throat. Roaming around the room, he spoke with all the employees as well as regular customers. Next, he headed into the back and knocked on the door of the server room.
A shadow clouded the peephole for a brief moment before the door cracked open to admit him. The tiny room housed the servers and the men he’d hired to monitor the security cameras. He reviewed footage for the better part of the night and, at the end of that, Alek had a pretty good idea what was going on.
The money was counted every night with bank deposits being made on Friday and again on Monday since the club did heavy business over the weekends. Dina usually stayed late every Monday, which was coincidentally when the largest deposit was prepared. The very deposit that skimming from would cause the least amount of notice. It was too much of a coincidence.
Heading back out to link up with Miss Sabrina, he noticed that neither Dina nor Braden was anywhere to be found. The place was really rocking, so having a manager on duty was an absolute necessity. Leaning over the bar, he asked gruffly, “Where is Mister Braden right now?”
Her eyes darted towards the back of the house, then lowered demurely. “He’s occupied at the moment,” she answered. “Perhaps I can help you, Mister Koshikov.”
“I wish to speak with our manager immediately.”
“I’ll let him know.” Moving from behind the counter the woman headed towards the office in the back. Alek followed right behind her, intent on seeing for himself what was distracting the man charged with running this business during the evening’s busiest time period. She held up her hand to knock. Having none of that, his hand shot out hard and fast around the young woman’s wrist. Punching the wooden door just above where the deadlock was located, the door splintered and went flying inwards.
Kneeling above the floor safe, Dina and Braden were pulling out cash and cramming it in a black duffel bag. Their eyes grew large and Braden scrambled for his desk. Alek shoved the bartender aside and burst into the room, slamming himself into the smaller man just has his hand reached inside his desk drawer for a gun. One thump on the back of the man’s head and he was down for the count.
“Cross that threshold and it will be the last step you take,” Alek growled at Dina, who had just made it to the door with the duffel.
Freezing in her tracks, Dina’s shoulders slumped. She slowly turned around and sat the duffel on the floor. “I’m sorry, I just needed…”
“Do not speak. When I get the point that your story becomes relevant, we will sit down together and talk. Now lie on the floor face down.”
Dina scrambled to obey. It was a position that afforded her no opportunity to interfere and subjugated her completely. Alek didn’t like this woman’s eyes on him. She was trouble he did not need in his already complicated life.
Stepping over the manager’s prone body, Alek picked up the duffel and dumped it onto the desk. The cash tumbled out in neatly formed stacks, and each stack had a ten grand marker taped around the middle. Quickly counting the bundles, he discovered there were twenty-five of them.
Sitting down at the desk, he pulled open the drawers and, finding a long knife, he used it to force the lock open. Inside he found a second financial recording. This one was a tiny black book with handwritten information inside, mostly numbers. It appeared that Braden had been grifting rather shamelessly. The man was skimming money from every employee’s tips, calling it a house charge. He charged for changes to their schedule, scammed ten percent of every charity event held at The Avoy, and was fals
ifying time sheets. He even padded vender’s charges, had taken a little from a recent plumbing overhaul, and fictitiously claimed bloated delivery charges for a company that was offering free delivery. All of that in addition to skimming cash sales of alcohol.
The man began to roll around, groaning in pain. Picking up the phone, Alek called the security station. “I’ve got one for the detention room. Pick up now, please.”
Two bouncers peeped around the corner. “Take your illustrious manager to the holding room. I want the door locked, someone standing guard outside, and no one is allowed to speak to him.”
“Yes, sir.” Hauling the man to his feet, they propped him between the two of them and walked off with him.
Taking out his cell, Alek texted Stiev:
I solved your riddle. Meet me at The Avoy now.
That was quick, Stiev replied a moment later.
You were right about Dina.
I fucking hate it when that happens.
Come straight to the office. There are things that only a money man can truly understand, Alek told him.
How bad is it?
The damage is severe.
I’ll be there in twenty minutes.
Alek counted all the bundles to ensure they were indeed ten grand each. Several were short. It was probably Dina’s sticky fingers since Braden was competent at counting and would not short his own stacks. Stacking the bundles neatly off to the side, he went back to the floor safe and cleared it out. Tonight was going to be a long night.
Rifling through the contents of the safe, he discovered prepaid credit cards, expensive jewelry he didn’t recognize with the receipts attached, and a small key.
“Dina, you may stand. I wish to talk with you before Stiev arrives.”
Moving gracefully to her feet, she dropped down into the chair in front of the desk. “Please don’t kill me. I will tell you everything.”
Sighing, Alek looked her over. He scarcely knew what to do with a woman who just couldn’t stay out of trouble no matter how many chances she was given. “Did Braden give you jewelry?”
Holding out her hand, she showed him an expensive diamond tennis bracelet. He motioned for her to hand it over. She quickly unclasped it and slid it across the desk.
“Was the grifting your idea or his? Tell me the truth now.”
“He’d already been gifting when I got here. I just gave him ideas he hadn’t thought of, like charging for schedule changes and charging a house fee.”
“Did you encourage him to skim money from the till?”
Stark fear jumped onto her face and she jerked back. “What? The fool tried to take money from Timur? Fuck no, I didn’t have anything to do with that. Jesus, only someone with a death wish would… you think I… oh, no, you can accuse me of many things, but not that.” Shaking her head, Dina stared at the stack of cash like it was a snake about to bite her.
“Take me through the whole thing one step at a time. I’m not a forgiving man when it comes to deceit. Though grifting is relatively harmless, lying to me will get you killed. Are we clear?”
Nodding quickly, she began telling her story. It was much as he’d predicted. She met Braden, realized he was an easy mark, and taught him to grift from the employees, which she saw as no big deal. She had no knowledge of him skimming cash from the till every night, or of the creative bookkeeping that enabled him to pad maintenance fees or capture fake delivery charges.
Holding up the tiny key, Alek asked curiously, “Do you have any idea what this goes to?
“I don’t know for sure but it might be to a safe deposit box or to one of the lockers over at the train station,” she answered, shaking her head pensively. “It could be to anything, but he seems like the type to avoid banks so I’d say try the train station.”
Stiev stormed through the door. After recounting the whole mess to him, they put the money and other valuables back in the safe and Alek dropped the key into his breast pocket.
Turning to Dina, he instructed sternly, “Go sit at the bar. Have a drink and do not move.”
“I will do exactly that.”
“See that you do. I’m certain you have no wish for me to have to chase you down.”
Racing from the room, Alek had no doubts about her doing as she was told. The old man had a soft spot for that one. She was most likely to wiggle out of any real pain simply by cooperating.
Braden, he suspected, would not be so lucky.
Chapter 4
Living the Life
Sharon
“Lift your right. Feet further apart. Jesus, what’s wrong with you today? It’s like you’re fifteen all over again.”
Pivoting on her heel away from her oversized opponent, Sharon punched her step-brother playfully in the face. Okay, maybe not so playfully. The stunned man stepped back, holding his nose. “Fucking fantastic, you gave me a bloody nose.”
Sharon laughed and danced around her opponent with renewed vigor.
“That’s not funny, sis.”
“Yes, it is.”
The chuckles running around the gym told her she was right. An Italian mob boss getting punched in the nose by a woman half his size in front of his henchmen was absolutely hilarious.
Wiping away the tiny trickle of blood with the back of his hand, Tony growled, “Gloves!”
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the gym owner shoving boxing gloves over his already-wrapped hands. It was just as well because the guy chosen to spar with her seemed conflicted about boxing with a woman and was pulling his punches. Sharon needed a good workout to alleviate the stress of working three back-to-back doubles.
By the time Tony stepped into the ring, there was barely a hint of redness around his nostrils. After sparring with the vicious man for years, it was blood in the water to her. She amped up her energy and pulled her shit together as she faced off against the one man she knew would give her no quarter.
Circling each other, they clashed like the warriors they were. Being pushed back over and over again by the gym owner acting as referee, they looked each other in the eye. “Never take your eyes off the enemy.” Tony had pounded his words of wisdom into her over the years and now they sprang to mind like magic when she needed them the most.
The instant the referee stepped back, she went at him again. “If you’re not playing offense, you’re playing defense.” Tony’s words continued to come unbidden to her mind, sparking her aggression. Murmurs were sounding off from every direction. There was awe, appreciation, and approval tinging their words. Tony almost caught her with an uppercut but she moved back just in time and it barely grazed her chin. Shifting her feet, she powered forward and slammed her gloved fist into his side. Her best move was met with barely a grunt from her step-brother.
Seeing a huge glove headed straight for her face, she tucked her head and stepped swiftly back. The impact landed right above her right brow, splitting the skin. The sounds in the room turned anxious and seemed to be warning her of something. Unwilling to be distracted, she caught Tony off guard with a return punch but he tripped her and came down on top of her. With his large glove raised for the final victory punch, she braced herself for the blow. Thankfully, it never came.
A rough voice they both recognized filled the air. “Enough. For God’s sake, Tony, what are you doing?”
Her step-brother eased off her. Like always, they hooked arms and he pulled her to her feet. Two men pulled the ropes open and Tony and Sharon watched as their old man stepped into the ring. Ignoring Sharon, he walked up to his son.
“This is the most shameful demonstration of violence I’ve ever seen against a woman,” he sighed in disappointment. Tony opened his mouth to speak but his father cut him off. “You weren’t even pulling your punches and she’s half your size.”
“We were just—”
Sharon’s eyes got big as the older man slapped his son across the face. “I don’t want to hear all the petty justifications for why you’re hitting your sister. You make me ashame
d to have you for a son.”
Tony glared at the older man. If looks could kill, he’d be dead.
Sharon took a step back when her step-father turned on her. “And you, young lady. You spent eight years in medical school so you could, what, roll in the mud with your brother like a rabid dog? This is conduct not befitting your station in life.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, father,” she said with her head low.
“I do not want to find you here again, princess. Am I understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
Stalking out of the dingy gym, a car pulled up at the curb and they watched him climb in. The moment the car drove away, Sharon turned to her humiliated brother.
“So are you ready to go again? The old man intervened before the final punch, so the match isn’t officially over.”
A huge grin ate up her brother’s face. “Prepare to get your ass kicked all over again.”
Raising her gloves, she smiled slightly. “The last time was a lucky punch. This time I’m gonna make you work for it.”
“Sure you don’t just want to go running back your high-class life as an emergency room doctor? Pops is right about you being too good for the gym.”
“I’m a gym rat at heart and you damn well know it, bro.”
Finally raising his gloves, he muttered, “Dad doesn’t know a thing about women today. He pisses me the hell off sometimes.”
Sharon laughed at his complaining about their father. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. He’s outliving his usefulness.”
Reaching out to punch her in the arm, he deadpanned right back, “You know I don’t like it when you throw my own words back in my face, princess.”
Punching him lightly in the stomach, she complained, “Don’t you freaking call me that. You know I hate it.”
He eventually got her down again after powering into her with repeated punches to the stomach and ribs. Lifting his glove melodramatically, he slammed it down towards her face. Stopping at the last minute, he barely touched her forehead just like he always did when he won. Lifting both hands in the air like a golden gloves champion, he yelled victoriously, “I just kicked my sister’s ass and my father thinks I’m a dick.”
