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“Where is Macy?”
“The kids are still in Splendora. The mom is in jail.”
“Jail?” Danny exclaimed. “Why is Janie in jail?”
“She got pulled over for speeding, and when they searched her car, they found drugs in it. She had the little kids with her. They took her to jail and charged her with all kinds of shit. She can’t afford to bond out so...”
“So?” he asked, dreading the answer.
“So, Macy is working to raise the money to get her mom out of jail and pay for a lawyer.”
“Where?” Danny asked through gritted teeth. His stomach was a vortex of dread. There was no way she could make enough money at Whataburger to pay for a bond that was likely to be tens of thousands of dollars.
Boychenko winced. “Pink Paradise.”
“Turn this Tahoe around right now!” Danny shouted furiously. Pink Paradise. The trashy, low-rent strip club that Paulie ran on the outskirts of the Albanian’s territory in north Houston. Paulie. The greasy, fat asshole who collected for Besian. Danny had warned him to stay away from Macy, and the second he had been out of town, that bastard had taken advantage of her.
“Danny,” Boychenko pleaded. “I promised the boss I would take you to Samovar. He was very clear that you are to go straight there.”
“You take me to Pink Paradise, or let me out right here.” He reached for the door handle. “I’ll jump and walk if I have to—.”
“Jesus! Just—stop! Okay! Fine! I’ll take you.” Boychenko grumbled in Russian, unleashing every curse word he knew. “I’m going to get the shit slapped out of me for this.”
“Probably,” Danny agreed, remembering only too well the time Nikolai had cracked him across the face. “It’ll toughen you up faster than anything Ivan throws your way.”
Boychenko snorted. “Says the man who has never sparred with Vanya.”
“Because I’d rather not end up with brain damage,” Danny remarked.
“If you go into that club and start shit, you may end up with that brain damage after all,” Boychenko warned. “Kostya owns a piece of that place. He’s not going to like you showing up and making trouble over some girl.”
“Don’t,” Danny warned. She wasn’t some girl. She was Macy. She washis.
Or, at least, she would be soon.
He had desired her for more than a year now. He had been making plans for them, plans that had been interrupted by his impromptu assignment overseas in Ireland. Learning the gun-running business was important, and he was honored to have been chosen by the boss to go. He had proven his loyalty again and again and had finally been rewarded.
But that reward came with unforeseen consequences.
Consequences that had put Macy in danger.
He could only imagine how abandoned and hurt she felt. He had promised her he would be there for her if she needed anything. He had made arrangements to keep her safe while he was away, and his friends had failed him. He would sort that out later. Right now, his sole focus was saving Macy.
“There’s an extra piece in the glove box,” Boychenko said as he exited the tollway. “It’s clean.”
Danny opened the glove box and found the Grach under the manual. It seemed Boychenko had been taking his lessons with Kostya to heart. The pistol smelled freshly cleaned, and there were plenty of extra magazines.
“Let’s try not to kill someone, okay?” Boychenko merged back onto the tollway going north. “I’m still trying to get the hang of the furnace.”
Danny glanced at Boychenko, seeing him for the first time not as the kid of their outfit, but as a man who was learning the worst part of their world. Apparently, Kostya wasn’t only teaching him about gun maintenance these days. The rumors of Kostya tapping Boychenko to follow in his footsteps as their cleaner seemed to be true.
The drive north seemed to take forever, but it couldn’t have been more than thirty minutes. The whole time, Danny seethed. Macy was a good person. She was kind, sweet, and gentle. She didn’t deserve any of the horrible shit that she had endured. Her mother dying. Her drunk, violent, gambling-addict father. A fire. Her stepmom was arrested. Being forced to work for a lowlife like Paulie.
I should have told her before I left. I should have made it clear she was my girl. I should have left her protected.
His failure to keep Macy safe left his guts churning. He couldn’t even bear to imagine what she had been suffering. One thing was for sure. If Paulie had put his nasty hands anywhere on Macy’s body, Danny was going to take them off finger by finger.
“Listen,” Boychenko said as they pulled into the mostly empty parking lot of the rundown club, “maybe we should call Kostya first.”
