Ari nearly jumped at the unfamiliar voice saying her name. She didn’t hide it well, either. She really had to get out of her own head. She was putting herself in danger, and that didn’t work in her world.
She turned to face two men, put her back to her apartment door. For a split second, she thought maybe they were another pair of men sent by Zervou, but a quick survey of the wardrobe ruled that out. These men were dressed with flash over any kind of substance. It screamed wanting to look rich without actuallybeingrich.
Which wasn’t good. Dread pooled in her gut.
She didn’t let the dread show. “Can I help you gentlemen?”
“I don’t suppose you’re aware of where your mother has been spending her evenings.”
Really not good. “She likes to knit,” Ari replied with a saccharine smile. This would not be the first time her mother’s…habits had brought rough men to their door making demands. Ari knew how to handle the muscle sent to shake down poor women with gambling problems.
“You must be confused,” the man said, meeting her fake sweetness with a fake politeness of his own. “Maria Malis spends her time in the Sakkas Casino. Losing more money than she has to lose at our tables.”
Ari swore inwardly but maintained the smile. Sakkas Casino wasn’t her mother’s usual fare of laying a few wages on horses or the numbers she liked to pick in the back room of the grocery. Sakkas was…serious. And there would be serious consequences for not repaying such a debt.
Damn.Ari had to think fast. She lifted a shoulder to the man’s accusation. She stealthily moved her hand to the knob, hoping Mom had left the door unlocked even though Ari always reminded her to lock it if she left.
It turned in her hand.Hallelujah.Getting inside wouldn’t save her when one man had a gun, but it would buy some time. She just needed some time to plan.
“Sounds like a you problem,” she told the men, holding the knob so she could pull it open and slip in before they had a chance to—
One slammed his hand against the door before she could get it open. “You’d be wrong.” He looked down at her. Eyes hard and mean. “It’s ayouproblem now.”
Ari eyed the two men hulking over her. She could probably take them. With the right strategy, with the right moves.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t exactly fight off a gun. Unless she managed to land a hard enough blow that the one with the gun fell back and down the stairs. If that worked, she could immediately whirl and likely duck a grab made by the second man. But he could have another kind of weapon. Maybe a knife.
Of course, she had one of those, too. But she’d have to get itwhiletaking out the one with the gun.
“Seems to me all those boxing prizes come with a bit of money. The kind of money that might go a ways toward paying off a debt.” This came from the one with the gun.
She didn’t need to tell him he couldn’t be more wrong. He wouldn’t believe her anyway. Still, she thought of the money Zervou had handed over the night before last. She’d bought groceries with some of it and secreted the rest away. Shecouldoffer it as a start of payment…
But where did it end?Don’t worry about the end. Just get through this day. One step at a time.
“Listen—”
A strange…tsking noise sounded behind them. Both men looked over their shoulders, but Ari could not see what was there around the two large men. Still, she could use this surprise to her advantage. If she started a fight, she could get inside. Grab the money. Grab Mom. And run.
Run where?
Anywhere, really. Anywhere was better than this.
She was about to deliver the first blow when a voice surprised her.
“Surely violence isn’t necessary.”
Surelythat wasn’t… But as the two men adjusted their stances, she caught sight of him.
Zervou.
He was dressed just as he had been when they’d dined together. A suit that could not be mistaken for anything but the best of the best, made expressly to fit his broad shoulders. Subtle, sophisticated, perfect.
He oozed all of those things while standing on the grimy landing in front of her dilapidated apartment door. While two-bit enforcers stood there in their cheap suits and overwhelming cologne thinking they were important because they’d taken advantage of a drunk woman’s weakness for cards.
“This isn’t any of your business,” the man with the gun said. He put his hand in his jacket, clearly showing the gun off to Zervou.
Who did not so much as flinch. Instead, he produced a big, fat envelope. “This should more than take care of the debt.”
