Page 76 of Broken

"Calm down, she's no good to us if you knock her teeth down her throat. Think about your sister," he said and at the same time Katia smiled at me, giving her hair a toss.

I took a deep breath before speaking, "Where is Capone at now?"

She looked between Liam and me again, but he nudged her with the gun. She licked her lips and spoke. "What do I get if I tell you?"

"Your life, Katia, now spill it," Liam replied.

I managed to keep my mouth clamped shut because I was about to take the gun and shoot her myself. He was right. I glanced over at Val who hadn't said another word. He was just aimlessly driving.

"He's at a motel held up with the girl." Katia gave a toss of her hair.

She was acting as if she'd just did me some sort of favor.

"What motel Katia...you're making this harder than it needs to be?" Liam poked her again with the gun.

With a huff, she gave up the answer but explained she didn't know what room he'd be in. Ever the silent sentinel, Valentin punched in the directions on the SUV's navigation system. The Sleepy Mermaid was minutes away. I watched the car icon dot along the imaginary road and sat back in my seat.

"It never ceases to amaze me," Val murmured.

"What?" I asked.

"The Sleepy Mermaid is one of our properties," Liam offered.

"I need a gun," I said quietly.

Val chuckled. "We've got you, Nova. Capone won't know what hit him."

It was completely dark inside of the car except for the glow of lights passing us by. We pulled into the parking lot of the motel. The outline of a mermaid shined bright, flickering on and off. Some of the neon had burned out. It seemed relatively empty as there were only two or three cars in the parking lot.

"I'll stay with Katia." Val turned and looked at his stepmother. "We have some chatting to do, don't we, mommy dearest?"

As the car doors opened, she seemed to look at both of us, but she found no help from either of us. Liam took my hand before we went inside. "We're going to find her."

"But will she be in one piece?" I asked.

He had no answers to that and held the door open for me. A putrid scent hit my nose as soon as we walked inside the office of the Sleepy Mermaid. I noted all the mermaid statues and pictures that clashed with the nasty looking green shag carpet that decorated the floor. The place was in need of a makeover.

No one was at the front desk, so Liam dinged a bell and hollered out, "Can we get some service!"

It was a few minutes before anyone popped up and when they saw who it was, the man almost pissed himself. He was a balding older man with half moon glasses that slipped down his face as he talked. "Mr. Safaryan, I had no idea you were coming by."

Liam ignored him and I started talking. "Have you seen a light-skinned guy come in here? Big and stocky, ball headed."

I rattled off more of Capone's description and finally it clicked.

"Yes, he's in room seven," the front desk guy said.

I turned to exit but heard Liam say, "You heard nothing, you saw nothing, or you will become nothing."

My eyes darted out into the parking lot and I could hear the hum of the SUV still running, even though there were no lights on. I was sure that Val was watching our every move regardless of how the next few moments went.

Liam went first, stopping at the green colored door that matched the office carpet. The door knocker was a mermaid that smiled back at us, etched in a brassy finish. Liam carefully put a finger over the peephole and knocked.

There was rustling inside as he continued to knock, and finally a voice replied. "Yo, who is it? I ain't order room service."

As if this dump would have room service. I was three seconds from kicking the door in, myself.

"Hey, open up, Viktor and Katia sent me," Liam said.