But that didn’t last long.
“How’d the job go?”
Alex sat down next to me.
“It went fine,” I said. “The guy is alive and well, and we got six grand plus his trailer.”
“Not bad. That should cover a lot of his debt.”
“Better than nothing.”
Alex ordered a whisky. We toasted and drank.
“I need to talk to you about something.”
I grunted. “I was wondering when this would come back up.”
“You had to know we’d talk to you about it. You dated the girl, for fuck’s sake.”
“I did.”
“She’s making a lot of noise, Gage. A lot of fucking noise. It’s very bad for us.”
“I don’t control her.”
“No. You don’t. But you know her.”
“I know her.”
“Vadik has orders for you.”
“What does he want me to do?”
Alex looked a little uncomfortable, and I knew I wasn’t going to like what he had to say. I knew this was coming, sooner or later, but I was hoping it would be later. I was hoping that Sadie would drop the charges, or at least step back, or maybe even get a different ADA to take over for her. Instead, she was charging ahead and pissing off every single member of the mob.
“Vadik wants you to sent her a message,” Alex said slowly.
“What’s that fucking mean?”
“You know what it means, Gage.”
I grunted. I knew what it meant.
Vadik wanted me to hurt her. He wanted me to break her knees, or rape her, or do something so horrible that it would scare her the fuck away forever.
Normally, I’d do it, no questions asked. I did what the mob wanted me to do, because that was who I was. I was loyal and a hard worker.
This was fucking different. Alex knew it and I knew it, and I was betting that Vadik knew it. This had to be some kind of test of my loyalty, and things were getting very, very dangerous.
I was on Vadik’s radar, and not in a good way. I wasn’t the up and coming killer anymore, but rather the guy that used to date that bitch ADA. My loyalty was in question by the mere fact of me being involved with Sadie at all.
They were smart to fucking question it. Fuck, I was questioning it. Alex watched me expectantly as I took a drink, trying to figure out how I was going to answer.
“If those are my orders,” I said, shrugging.
“So you know what you have to do?”
“You don’t have to fucking spell it out for me, Alex. I’ve been doing this a long time.”
“I know. But you ever done this to someone you knew?”
“Doesn’t matter either way. A job is a job. I do what the family orders me to do.”
“That’s the right answer. Someone is going to do it no matter what, anyway, and sooner than you think.” Alex took a drink, staring off into the mirror behind the bar. “I knew a girl once, big tits, sweet fucking ass, a good girl. You know the type.”
I grunted. “Sure.”
“I loved that bitch. She gave head so good that my dick is getting hard just remembering it. But one day, she decided to wake up and steal five grand from my stash. The bitch ran off, thinking she was going to get away.”
“What did you do?”
“I found her and I broke both her legs.” He stared at me. “She didn’t have the five grand, so I took one of her fingers instead. Now there’s some nine-fingered bitch that sucks great dick and walks with a limp out there who’ll never forget me.”
I stared at him. I had no clue if that story was true or not, but I was willing to bet that parts of it were.
He burst out laughing and I put a little smile on my face to play along. He clapped me on the back.
“You’ll be okay,” he said. “Do what you’re ordered to do.”
“I always do.”
Just then, Boris returned. He sat down on my other side and ordered a drink. We all toasted, and Boris launched in the story of how we fucked that guy up earlier in the day. Of course, Boris played a larger role in his story than he really did in real life, but that didn’t matter. Let the fucking idiot have his moment.
I had to sit there and smile and pretend like nothing was eating at me. I had to pretend, otherwise they would see right through me, and my life would be in danger. I couldn’t keep myself alive and still protect Sadie from these murderous bastards, and so I had to play along. I had to be the good fucking soldier, ready to take orders and to do whatever Vadik asked of me.
But that story was eating at me. I knew Alex used to be a cold hard killer before he got promoted up the ranks, but I had no clue he would fuck up a woman like that. If someone stole from me, I’d be pretty fucking pissed, but I doubted I’d maim someone forever over it. I probably would have burned down her house or her car or some shit, maybe smacked her around a little bit.