Hard Bastard(36)
It was impressive. I knew she was an impressive person, but she was taking my opinion of her to a whole new level. Sadie was fucking sexy, smart, brave, and incredible. It was no wonder that I was willing to risk everything for her.
It wasn’t like I could just explain that to Alex, though. They didn’t give a fuck how I felt about her, and for good reason. The mafia was a business and their business ran on strength and fear. As soon as we started giving a shit about feelings and all that fucking garbage, we’d be fucking destroyed by someone stronger.
That was all that mattered to them. All they cared about was strength. I was one of the strongest members of the mob and had served faithfully and loyally for fucking years, and so I was hoping that I could work something out that way. Maybe I’d pay them off, maybe I’d do some dirty fucking jobs, or maybe I’d just convince Sadie to walk away from the case and drop the charges against Evgeni. Whatever it took, I’d try and do it. Whatever it took, so long as it wasn’t hurting Sadie any more.
After about fifteen minutes of waiting, I saw Alex’s car pull into the lot. He got out and walked into the diner. I watched him get seated in his usual booth, smiling and talking with the waitress the whole time.
That was good. He was in a decent mood and probably didn’t know about Kuzma yet. I climbed out of my car and walked into the diner.
Alex spotted me right away and waved me over. “What are you doing here, Gage?”
I sat down across from him. “Came to see you.”
“Fuck, man. Want some coffee?”
“No thanks.”
He frowned at me. “You look fucking serious, man. Something happen?”
That bastard. He knew that Kuzma was going after Sadie last night, and he knew that I wasn’t going to be happy about that. It was probably going to be a little surprise when he finds out what I did to him, though.
“We gotta talk about last night,” I said.
He smiled. “I guess you heard.”
“I more than heard.”
He sighed, leaning back. “What did you do, Gage?”
“You fuckers said that I was supposed to take care of it, and then you sent Kuzma.”
“So what? Vadik does what he thinks is best. Besides, you weren’t moving fast enough.”
“You were fucking testing me.”
“So?”
I wanted to punch his smug face. “You went behind my back.”
“I don’t really give a fuck if we hurt your feelings, Gage.”
“You stupid bastard. My feelings aren’t hurt.” I paused. “Kuzma is dead.”
That got his attention. “He’s what?”
“Dead. I killed him.”
“You’re fucking serious?”
“I am very serious.”
“Jesus Christ, Gage. What the fuck did you do?”
“Bastard came into Sadie’s room, tried to rape her. Shit got heated. He pulled a knife.”
“So you killed him?”
“It was kill or be killed, Alex.”
“You dumb motherfucker.” I watched him go from shocked to pissed off in about ten seconds. “You stupid fucking cunt. You killed one of your own guys. All for what? For some bitch?”
“You had no right to go for her. She was fucking mine.”
“You don’t get shit, Gage. You work for me and for Vadik.”
“Kuzma is dead and the girl is safe with me. So now you have a choice.”
“I have no choice now. You realize that?”
“You always have a choice.”
“We can’t let this slide.” He shook his head. “Fuck, Gage. I was wondering why Kuzma didn’t check in.”
“Cops are probably looking for me now, too.”
“Not much we can do about that, even if we fucking wanted to.”
“The way I see it, you have two choices. Either come after me and Sadie and get fucked up. Or, you can let us go and I’ll convince her to drop the charges against Evgeni.”
Alex laughed, and just then the waitress returned with his food. He ordered two eggs, toast, a short stack of pancakes, and coffee. She put it in front of him and walked away.
“There’s no amnesty for you now,” he said simply. “If we weren’t in this fucking diner, I’d try and kill you myself.”
“You don’t have to make this hard. Let me take care of this girl and the rest is a wash.”
“No,” Alex aid. “Vadik won’t ever go for it. You killed one of your own. Now you have to pay for it.”
I stared him down and he stared right back at me. I knew in that moment that all hope of figuring this out peacefully was gone.
It was going to be violence.
I stood up and nodded at him. “Okay then, Alex. If that’s what you want.”