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I shook my head, not able to keep my laugh in. “None of your damn business.”
Silence wrapped around us, and I was hyper aware that everyone was now listening to our conversation. They were all waiting to see what happened next, just like I was. I didn’t know this man, yet I was squaring up to him as if I was a six foot MMA fighter. I wasn’t afraid, not outwardly anyway.
“What the hell did you just say to me?” the man growled out, his hand gripping me even tighter. There was no doubt that he’d leave a bruise, but I wasn’t going to show him that he was hurting me. Weakness was failure in this world.
“I said”—I tried to yank my arm from his hand, but it was pointless—“my name is none of your business.”
His other arm whipped up, grabbing me by my hair. “Maybe you need a lesson in how to talk to men.” He cracked his neck, the sound echoing around us. “I asked you a motherfucking question, now answer it.”
I gritted my teeth, trying not to show the pain on my face from the pull of my hair on my scalp, but I knew my eyes were already watering from it. “And I said…” I paused, widening my feet to give me more of a grounding. “It’s none of your damn business.” I didn’t hesitate as I pushed my arm up between his arm and my face then put all of my force forward. We both went tumbling to the floor—him breaking the fall—and I landed on top of him. His hand was still gripping my arm, so as I lifted my head, I threw one quick jab at his cheek, shocking him just enough to let me go completely.
“Fuck!” Ronnie shouted, but he didn’t make a move to come closer to us. He was still standing in front of his car, watching the show like it was the latest blockbuster movie.
“You fucking bitch!” The man underneath me screamed, but I didn’t catch what else he had to say because I scrambled away from him, trying to make it back on my feet, then sprinted toward Ronnie.
“We need to get the hell out of here,” I shouted, but it came out more like a wheeze.
“Give them the money,” Ronnie shouted to the other two guys. “We’ll meet you back at the club.”
I yanked open the passenger door and dived inside, needing to put as much distance between me and that guy as possible. My gaze veered over to the other car where he was now standing, staring directly at me. I hated that his death stare caused me to shiver, but I was determined not to let it show.
“He’s not gonna be happy about this,” Ronnie murmured as he got into the car beside me and sped away from them. “In fact, he’s gonna be fucking pissed.”
I had no idea if what he was saying was true or not, but I was about to find out if I’d blown this entire thing within hours and lost my chance at my first real undercover case.
Chapter Two
THEO
I stared at the message on my phone on way back as I sat behind my desk in my office.
The music from the club was blaring, but thanks to the sound proofing I’d had done upstairs, it was more of a muffled beat.
Dropping my phone onto my desk, I stared out of the glass on the opposite side of the room. From this side, I could see every part of the club, but to the patrons down there, it was mirrored. Not many knew that I could see what was happening down there, only the ones who were allowed up here. Which was only my crew made up of ten men.
Three of them were out buying supplies we needed for our next big job. And normally, I wouldn’t be waiting up here for them to get back. I trusted my men implicitly, the problem was, I didn’t trust this seller at all, but he was the only one who had what we needed.
Several beeps rang out from the monitor on my desk, my alarms telling me that people were walking down the hallway to my office. I waited until they were closer then stood and walked around to the front of my desk. The keypad next to the steel reinforced door blinked orange, signaling that there was motion on the other side. I could have walked over and input the code to open it, but instead, I opened up the encrypted app on my phone and typed it in through that. Several locks clicked and then the door slowly opened.
Ronnie was the first person’s voice to ring out, but I didn’t look up as I locked my phone and put it back into my pocket. By the time I’d done that, the door clicked closed behind them, automatically locking in place.
“Boss,” Ronnie greeted. I glanced up at him, expecting to see him standing there with two of my other guys, but what I got instead was two of my guys and a stranger standing next to him—a woman I’d never seen before. “I think I fucked up.” He winced, his gaze flicking between me and the woman at his side.
“Who the fuck is she?” I growled, so loud that I swore the glass they were standing in front of vibrated. He knew better than to bring anyone up here, yet here they were standing in the middle of the open space between my desk and the black leather couch.
“I…she…fuck.” Ronnie ran his hand through his hair, gripping it and keeping it there as he looked at anything but my face. “She’s a friend. She needed…erm…she needed some money so I told her she could help out on this job.” I opened my mouth, about to lose my shit on him, but he continued, “But things went sideways, and well…” He stared directly at the woman then waved his hand at her. “You tell him.”
“Ronnie,” I interrupted, not giving her the chance to say a single fucking thing. She had no say here, and he fucking knew that. “Since when are you the boss?” My tone was calm, the complete opposite to how I was feeling.
“I’m not,” he blurted. “I just…well…I wanted to help her and—”
“No.” I sliced my hand through the air and stood to my full height, knowing that I towered over him. Ronnie had been a good guy in the crew. He’d been with us for two years—the latest member to join—but he’d fucked up more times than I could count, and this—bringing someone knew in without my say so, no less a woman—was the biggest fuck up of them all. “You know the goddamn rules.”
His head dropped, his shoulders slumping. I’d warned him over and over again. He knew the consequences of his actions.
“You can all leave,” I said to the room, not moving from my spot as I pulled my phone out and unlocked the door for them. Not a single word was said as they all exited, leaving Ronnie behind. The door clicked shut and I slowly looked up, grinding my teeth at what I saw. “I told you to leave,” I gritted out.
The woman shrugged, her hair a mess. “I’m not leaving when you haven’t even given me a chance to explain myself.”
