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Mike finally opens a door at the end of the hall, revealing a staircase. We climb to the second floor, stepping into an open space with cubicles and offices. He points me into the first and settles behind the desk.
“Sit.” He waves to the chair across from him.
I’d rather stand, but I can see this turning into some type of power battle that’ll have to end with me in a chair because Uncle Mike has something I want and no real reason to give it up.
I sit.
“How are things?” he grunts. “You been by to see your folks?”
“You mean you don’t know?” Legitimate curiosity colors my question. I thought my father reported everything back to his big brother. But maybe not.
Mike’s brows dip, the only indication that he’s in the dark. A place he does not like to be.
“I went by yesterday. My grandmother died, and I was the messenger.”
“Ah. And you’re here because you missed your family? Want to be close to us all again?” He smirks, knowing my answer. The cocky statement still comes out a second too late. I saw the burn in the man’s eyes.
The anger that he was the last to know information about people under his rule, which includes my parents.
I’ll have to remember that.
“I came here because I want to know something.”
Uncle Mike tilts his head.
Trying not to let on how anxious I am to bring up this topic, I keep my voice steady as I ask, “Why’d you let Dash leave the business?”
My younger brother used to steal cars for our uncle, and he was good at it if I heard right. But no matter how good, he got caught. Him and Leo, at the same time, and the pair went to prison. Only when Dash got out, my younger brother started living by the law. Leo went straight back to our uncle.
Mike taps his knuckles on the metal surface of the industrial desk that takes up more than its fair share of the small space. He doesn’t answer right away, seeming to ponder his response.
“We had a financial arrangement,” he offers at last.
I knew about that.
“And his heart wasn’t in it.”
That’s new. Not that Dash stopped wanting to steal, but that Mike cared.
“What does that mean?”
Mike glares hard at me. “Someone who doesn’t want to be in this game is a risk to my business. I need loyalty, even if that loyalty is based off greed. Dash didn’t care about money or driving anymore. He just wanted out. I told him as long as I got refunded all the cash he was worth to me, I’d let him go.”
A small hope springs in my chest.
Could it be that easy?
“If you had someone else who wanted out, as long as you got your money’s worth, they’d be able to walk away?”
Mike pinches at his bottom lip. “Possibly. But some people are worth more to my bottom line than your baby brother.”
I lean forward, elbows on my knees, my eyes boring into his milky blue ones.
“How much is Leo worth?”
ChapterNine
CHARLIE
