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“We haven’t bothered asking him anything. We waited for you.”
When we walk through the door leading to the private room, a man paces with long, quick strides along the far wall. His arms are folded tightly across his chest.
“Hey. Jack,” Levi snaps, and Jack stops, turning toward us.
“You? You had these guys grab me?” His pupils are wide. The room reeks of fear.
“You know who I am?” I ask casually. I need all the information this asshole can give me, and I don’t want to sort through lies to find the truth. I could go straight to beating him, but that doesn’t guarantee honesty.
“You’re one of the Romanovs’ muscle.” He clenches then unclenches his jaw. “Mandy went to you for help.” Her name in his mouth makes me fist my hand.
“You lied to her.” I don’t have time for any sort of song and dance. Mandy’s waiting and I need the answers she’s been chasing. “You told her you had no idea where her brother was but turns out you’ve been visiting him at the Freedom House. Turns out you got him a job.” I take a step toward him, and like a good boy, he retreats a step. This isn’t a man who’s seen much violence. He’s an asshole who makes drug deals in the cover of darkness and makes a quick buck. He’s never known any actual power or had any real character in his whole pathetic life.
“I told Mandy I’d help her.” A bead of sweat rolls down his temple. Even with it being the end of July, it’s cold down here.
“That’s not an answer.”
“What do you want from me?” He shoves his hands into his jean pockets, probably to keep me from seeing how much they’re shaking.
“I want to know what happened to him. Where is he? Who is he working for?” From what Levi told me on the phone, this jerk has no real connections. He’s not working for a family, he has no crew, he’s just a lowlife thug who slings garbage.
His throat works as he swallows hard. He drags his teeth over his upper lip. “I was trying to help.” He retreats again another step. “Is Mandy here?” He moves up to his toes, trying to see over my shoulder.
“She’s not talking to you, I’m talking to you now,” I assure him, taking another step toward him. A small one. I’m not looking to get on top of him just yet; I just want him to feel my presence.
“Let me talk to her. She’ll understand.”
“Understand what?” I ask, stopping and folding my arms over my chest. I’m taller and I’m bigger, but that’s not important. I’m fighting to protect Mandy at any cost, and he’s struggling to keep his head above water.
“Just get her. Let me talk to her.” He swallows again, his eyes shift behind me to Levi, to Alexi. Neither of them will interfere here.
“No.” I shake my head. “You’ll talk to me. Where is he?”
“Look.” His breathing hitches. There’s another bead of sweat following the trail of the first. “She’ll understand.”
“Where is he?” I take another step, dropping my hands to my sides.
He takes a deep, shaky breath. “He’s gone.” He presses his back into the wall. His bottom lip trembles. “I tried to help him. I tried. I swear.”
“What do you meanhe’s gone?” Some small part of me holds on to some hope that maybe I can bring her brother home to her, that I won’t have to break her heart with the news that she’s lost him for good.
“He’s dead.” The words crack as he says them.
“What happened?” I demand, my hands fisting tight at my sides. Rage fills me, and it takes everything I have to tamp it down.
“I got him a job. Just washing dishes at a restaurant that a guy I know owns. It paid shit, but it was a paycheck.” He pauses and points a finger at me. “He wasn’t selling. I kept him away from that shit. I swear I kept him away from it.”
“What happened?” I ask again.
“I’m telling you!” His chest heaves as his gaze swings wildly around the room. “Okay, okay, listen. I did not give him the shit.”
“Give him what? You better talk faster. I’m getting impatient.” I take a small step toward the fucking coward.
“He was alone. I was out. It wasn’t ready. I had cut it with the wrong percentage, so I went to pick up more so I could balance it out. But he didn’t know.” He drags both hands through his hair. “I found him… it wasn’t cut right. It wasn’t ready,” he says again.
“He overdosed on your garbage?” My voice is low. I can barely get the question out through my shaking insides. This is going to devastate her. I can already feel her pain resonating through me and all I want to do is end the man who’s caused it.
“He was clean,” he yells. “I don’t know why he decided to use that night. It made no sense.”
