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“Thank you.” Hunter breathed a mental sigh of relief and ended the call. The first thing that had gone right in the last ten minutes.
“What was that about?” Lilianna asked, looking rather conflicted about this whole scenario.
“Hopefully something helpful.”
Herbert had moved along the hall toward the door. Hunter picked up the briefcase, handed it to Lilianna, and followed Herbert to the door. He turned and asked, “Is there any possible way I can convince you to remain behind and hide out?”
She took a slight step back as if weighing her options. Her head shifted, her gaze focused on his face, and she shook her head. “Nope. I need to end this. I don’t want to hide anymore. You can give him the money. Maybe if he thinks it’s from you, he’ll think twice about coming after me again.”
Hunter pushed out a long sigh and nodded. Herbert pushed through the door to the front part of his store as he followed, ensuring Lilianna remained mostly behind him as they came into the main part of the small shop.
Herbert stayed behind the counter as if it would afford him some meager protection. Hunter moved out into the center of the store, then over to where Dylan stood, keeping Lilianna behind him until both he and Dylan were surrounding her.
She sucked in a sharp breath and whispered sharply, “That’s my suitcase and box.” He turned and looked at her, his eyes narrowing.
“You know, from my car,” she said quietly, her eyes wide with surprise. “The one that burned up.” Her gaze went to the muscled goon next to the door. He followed and saw a brown packing box and small suitcase perched on the counter.
Hunter nodded and put a finger to his lips. “Let me do all the talking, okay?” he said in a low tone. While he’d never be able to prove it, he now knew that likely Sammy was the one who’d torched her car. Otherwise, how would he have possession of her things?
She gave a slight nod, and then he was distracted by Herbert’s voice. “What’s going on out here? Why’d you have to break my glass case, Sammy? That was a pricy piece to install in here.”
Sammy’s intent gaze went from staring daggers at Hunter to Herbert immediately. He practically spat out, “That’s Mr. Heller to you, lowlife bookie scum.”
Herbert pursed his lips and said nothing else, glancing away to the three of them standing together. At least now Hunter could confirm this was Sammy “the dick” Heller himself. He’d seen a dated picture online, but it didn’t look like the loser before him right now. He was younger than expected. His hair was bleached an unnatural white color and spiked out about two inches from his head, but the roots were a half-grown-out dirty-blond color.
“So you’re Sammy Heller?” Hunter laughed as if he’d perhaps been worried about something, but his fears had been for nothing.
“What’s it to you, dickhead?”
Hunter ignored the derogatory name and took a step forward. “I understand you’re trying to shake down my friend for a loan she didn’t initiate. Not very nice of you.”
“Again I’ll ask, what’s it to you, dickhead?”
“And as I said, she’s my friend. So from now on, you don’t talk to her ever again. You talk to me instead. Got it?”
Sammy smiled. “Is that so?” He eyed Hunter up and down, apparently not finding him a threat. Which was only his first of probably many mistakes he was about to make.
Hunter nodded and stood his ground, preparing to stop whatever foolish move he was about to make. “Or do I need to explain it in much smaller words for you to understand?”
Sammy made a face as if he was about to blow his top. Then he stopped, breathed in and out, gaining what looked like his cool again, and said in a sneering tone, pointing a finger in her direction, “What if I don’t like your new rules, dickhead? What if I say, ‘fuck you.’ I’ll talk to the cunt-bitch Lilianna in any way that I want to talk to her and whenever I want to.”
Hunter tilted his head to one side as if considering Sammy’s offensive questions on their merit right before he slapped Sammy hard and fast right across his cheek, leaving a red hand-shaped mark emblazoned on his flesh. Nothing like a bitch slap to make a profound statement.
