Page 22 of Coach (Shady Valley Henchmen #8)
“It wasn’t my fault the two of you started talking about killing someone before checking to make sure the building was empty,” I said, fear making me angry. My words were sharp enough to cut.
The brothers shared a confused look.
“What?”
“That’s why you’re going to kill me, right? Because I overheard you saying you wanted to torture and kill the person who is stealing from you.”
“You,” Konstantin said.
“Yes, me. I heard you.”
“No,” Konstantin said, looking more confused by the moment. “No, you are the thief.”
“I’m… what? No, I’m not.”
“It started when you did.”
“It started right before I did,” I corrected. “You thought I stole from you?” I asked, shock making me a little hysterical. “Wow. You’re a real crack team of criminals,” I added, an almost maniacal laugh escaping me. “Didn’t even know your vent was full of stolen cash.”
“What?” Konstantin barked. “The money is in the vent?”
“Well, not anymore.”
“You did steal it,” Konstantin, trying to keep up, said.
“Nope. Not me.”
“Who then?”
“Why should I tell you? I mean, you have to kill me now, right? You just kidnapped me. I can’t live to tell that story, can I?”
Mikhail took a step forward, everything about him menacing.
And I remembered that there were worse things than death.
Namely, the kind of pain that made you wish you were dead.
That was what they could do to me. To make me talk.
To punish me for not just readily giving them the information they wanted.
I didn’t want to die.
I didn’t want to be tortured to death a little bit more.
“Okay. If you won’t torture me and you promise to make sure my dog doesn’t die, I will tell you.”
All I got from Konstantin was a flick of his wrist.
Taking that as agreement—since I didn’t really have much choice in the matter anyway—I sucked in a deep breath.
“It’s Irina.” There. It was out. Though neither brother showed any sign of what they thought of that.
“Well, I guess, it’s partly Irina. I mean, I don’t think she actually stole it herself.
Just enabled it. Or planned it. I guess it was the guy who did the actual stealing and hiding. And, tonight, retrieving.”
“What guy?” Mikhail asked.
“I don’t know his name. The guy who had the job before me. At least that was what Irina said.”
“How do you know this?” Konstantin asked.
“Because I heard it. While hiding in the walk-in.”
“When?”
“Tonight. I was about to leave and I heard someone coming in. I thought it was maybe you two again,” I added, sighing.
“But, nope. It was the two of them, talking about hiding the money and getting it out. Once they were in the front trying to open the vent, I ran out the back. I thought you guys were them.”
There was complete silence following my words. I wasn’t sure if that was because of disbelief or if they were processing, adjusting.
“Don’t you have cameras?”
Mikhail looked at me for a long second. “They can be turned off remotely.”
Right.
Because of all the kidnapping, maiming, and murdering. Couldn’t let a pesky security camera get in the way of all that fun.
“And Irina has access.”
“She must. There have been… gaps.”
“Yeah, well, that certainly wasn’t me. I don’t even have a key.”
The brothers shared a look.
“So, my dog,” I said again. “Really just prop open the back door. She can go in and out as she pleases, get food and water. Eventually, Saul will figure out that she is all alone.”
“Saul.” Konstantin’s posture—already freakishly proper—went ramrod straight.
“Yeah, Saul. Garza. Oh, well, I guess everyone around here knows him by his road name: Coach. Coach will realize she is alone and take her for me. He promised.”
“Saul,” Konstantin repeated.
“He’s the only man she really likes.”
Tears flooded my eyes thinking of Trix, of Saul, of all the moments I would never get to have with them.
I kicked myself for waiting so long to go to the clubhouse, to give in to the desire that had been simmering between us since he saved me from falling off the ladder.
“You have to promise,” I said, my voice thick as the first tear slid down my cheek. “Please.”
“You’re dating Saul Garza,” Mikhail said.
“I…” wasn’t. Not really. But I was about to take a bullet to the head. Who cared about technicalities? For just a second, I was going to date Saul. Be wildly in love with him. “Yeah. I mean… not for long, but yeah.”
Konstantin barked out something in Russian that cracked the air like a whip.
Then the two of them were speaking in rapid-fire Russian, their body language agitated. Then Konstantin waved at me, and Mikhail moved behind me.
This was it.
And he still hadn’t promised.
“Please promise about my dog,” I demanded.
Mikhail moved right in close, making me tense.
But then there was a click.
And my wrists were suddenly free.
I yanked my arms forward without thinking, cradling them to my chest as I looked up at Konstantin.
“How much?” he asked.
“How much what?”
“How much will it cost?”
“I don’t know what you’re asking me.”
“Your silence. How much will it cost?”
“My… silence?”
Wait.
Were they… going to let me go?
Going to let me go and… pay me?
“Wait… what? You want to pay me to not talk about kidnapping me?”
“Name your price,” Konstantin said.
“So you want me to just… go back to my life and pretend this didn’t happen? Keep coming to work ?”
“That part is entirely up to you. But it would be less suspicious if you at least pretend to continue working there.”
I looked between the brothers, trying to figure out what the hell this shift was all about.
But it had to come back to the club.
To being… afraid of him?
“Are you afraid of Saul?”
To that, they shared a look.
“The peace in this town is… delicate,” Konstantin told me. “No one wants war.”
“So you want me to lie to Saul about this?”
“Lie is a strong word. Omit.”
I mean, there was already a lot I was omitting when it came to Saul. Since we weren’t actually dating. Not in any serious kind of way.
That said, if claiming so was going to save my life—and get me home to Trix—I guess I could also omit the lack of commitment between Saul and me.
“Everything has a price,” Konstantin said, watching me.
“I guess that’s true,” I agreed.
“Two hundred?” Mikhail piped in.
Two hundred? They wanted to buy my silence for a measly two hundred bucks?
“Two hundred?” I asked, eyes narrowing.
“Three,” Konstantin countered.
In what world was three hundred even enough?
At my silence, Konstantin exhaled.
“Four hundred thousand. Cash. Untraceable.”
Wait.
What?
Four hundred thousand?
That was… life-changing money.
That was the safety net my life had been missing for the past decade, ever since…
I shook that thought away.
It wasn’t the time.
One terrifying situation at a time.
“Four hundred thousand dollars to not talk about this.”
“Yes,” Konstantin said.
I pressed my lips together. “Four hundred thousand. And health insurance,” I added. I hadn’t been able to get regular healthcare in years. “And dental. I think that ball gag gave me TMJ.” My jaw was still throbbing.
“Done,” Konstantin said.
“Why do you even have that?” I asked, looking at the ball gag on the floor.
Konstantin’s gaze slid to his brother, but neither said anything.
“We will drop you at home,” Konstantin said. “And the money will be at work tomorrow. Drive instead of walking.”
Not quite believing this was real life, I slowly got to my feet. “Okay.”
“Okay,” Konstantin agreed.
And they, I kid you not, all walked to the stairs together.
Mikhail hung back, turning off the lights, then following us back across the field toward the car.
Konstantin opened my door for me, waited for me to slide into the backseat, then closed it gently before he and his brother got in the front, turned over the car, and drove back to Shady Valley.
It was the most surreal moment of my life.
The car pulled up outside the duplex, and I had to actually tamp down the knee-jerk urge to thank them for driving me home.
“Nice fence,” Mikhail commented, seemingly just as uncomfortable with the change of events. Konstantin, on the other hand, was as stalwart and unreadable as ever.
“Thanks. Saul built it.”
It was partly true.
The brothers shared another look.
“Sounds like that dog of yours knows you’re home,” Konstantin said as Trix started to bark at the front window.
“Yep. Alright. Well… yeah,” I said, not sure what the hell else to say as I opened my door and climbed out.
Some part of me was paranoid they might just shoot me on my own front porch after all.
But before I even got to the steps, they peeled off.
My hands shook as I unlocked the door, the adrenaline spent, leaving just the shock and fear behind.
“Girl, you are not going to believe what just happened,” I told Trix as she bounded up to me, completely oblivious to everything that happened but happy to see me. “Without realizing it, you kind of saved my life tonight,” I told her. “You and Saul.”