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“No.” Max says. “I don’t think we should call them yet. We don’t know anything is actually wrong.” I nod, but Robin is already on his phone.
“Gus, you got the note last night, yeah?” Robin pauses while his brother answers. “Come to the hotel. Eve is missing.” Another pause, and Gustav’s voice is louder this time. “I don’t know, and it could be nothing. And if it is, you can help us celebrate my stupidity with a bottle of champagne when she gets back. But if it is something, then I think you should be here.”
Robin looks at Max. “I know, but I also know more about Gus than you do. If…if this is what we are all thinking but are too afraid to say, Gustav can handle it. He has some experience.”
Time slinks on. The eggs get cold, the coffee stale. Gustav comes in.
He doesn’t talk, but he takes Eve’s phone from his brother and sits down at the desk chair. I go back to the balcony. The only sound in the room is the bottle of Dom shifting in the bucket while the ice melts.
It gets dark.
“Call the others.” Max says. “They deserve to be here, too.”
Robin, Max, and I dial the other guys. Gustav just stares at Eve’s phone.
Chapter 32
Gustav
I really never thought my old days would come back to haunt me, but here we are—hunting down wanted men, chaos, and the threat of death in the back of everyone’s mind.
Who’s death? Well, not ours…I hope.
I used to be an enforcer for a small-time thug a few cities away. Mostly shakedowns for protection money, the occasional drug payment collection, nothing major. But then the boss started to get a little too greedy. He wanted to move into robbery, and wanted to use us to do it.
I refused to go out on a job with them, and they all got killed in a shootout with the cops. I’m still thankful I refused when I did, and so is Robin. If only for the fact that if they came looking, they’d see my face on his, either.
Of course, this is way different. We’re hunting truly bad people, and we’re taking back what belongs to us. God help me if they hurt a hair on her head…
I don’t want to think about that right now. I need to focus. We don’t have many clues to go on, but at the very least, there has to be someone to talk to.
I think back to our first big ‘date’ with Evelynn. Teasing her at the gala, that fantastic dress…fuck.
Now is not the time to get a fucking hard-on, you dick, I scold myself.
Who did they say they met after Robin and I left? It gave me bad memories, but I try to remember. They said she was a crime boss, and…
“Caroline!” I suddenly exclaim. Everyone around me jumps.
“What the fuck, dude?” Robin yells at me.
“Shut up. We can talk to Caroline. Didn’t she hire them before? She’s gotta have some dirt on the guys,” I say enthusiastically.
Nobody seems very excited about the idea of calling on the city’s most influential underground personality.
“Fuck you guys. I’ll do it then. I’ve talked to these types before, anyway,” I say after scanning their faces.
I pick up Evelynn’s phone and find the number quickly. Caroline won’t be happy to hear she’s missing. From what I understand, she took quite a liking to her very quickly.
“Now or never,” I sigh, and hit the call button.
After a few rings, I’m ready to give up—then suddenly the ringing stops.
“Evie, darling! It’s so good to hear from you. Have you made a decision yet?” Caroline’s voice echoes happily over the line.
I clear my throat, and she goes silent. “Sorry, Caroline. This is Gustav, one of Miss Evelynn’s employees.”
She cuts me off. “Well, I’m sure you boys are much more than employees by now—but I digress. To what do I owe the call?”
“Evelynn is missing, Ma’am,” I manage to breathe out.
“Oh, I see,” she says. I can hear her gears turning in the background, anticipating the conversation many steps ahead. She’s a powerful woman, one who likes control. “Well, these things happen in the city. What does it have to do with me?”
She’s looking for it to be a favor. I have to play carefully.
“We have no real clues to go on so far, but she’s been receiving some harassment from her previous employees. We understand you had brief dealings with the three of them in the past, and were looking for any sort of starting point.”
A few of my colleagues nod in agreement with my careful phrasing.
“Well, I may. That depends. You don’t think this has anything to do with me, do you?”
“Not at all, Miss Caroline. They’re scum, through and through. That has no reflection on anyone who has had dealings with them.”
