I put my hand on a t-shirt rack and pushed against it. The whole thing wobbled a bit, but not too much. I could already see the place would need some improvements. Her brother was a waste of a man.
“This store gets enough street traffic that it wouldn’t be unusual if it bumped up by a small percentage. And your brother was in my pocket. It’s simple, really. You’re convenient.”
She made a face and paced toward the back door. I watched her, curious about how she’d take it. But she turned and paced back toward me.
“So I do this for a while. I sell all your pills. Then what.”
“Like I told you. Then you choose if you want to stay and continue running the store and selling for me, or you walk away. Maybe if you do well, you walk away with a financial bonus.”
“You’ll really just let me leave? Even though I know so much about you and your operation?”
I chuckled and felt a strange stab of pride. The girl was smarter than I gave her credit for.
“Seems stupid, doesn’t it?”
“Seems like you’d never really let me leave.”
“Here’s the thing, little diamond. For most men, that would be true. Most men would kill you before they let you walk. But I’m not most men.”
“Somehow, I don’t believe you.”
I shrugged. “Believe what you want. I’ll say this though, I think that after we’re through, you won’t want to walk. And if you do, then you won’t want to turn me in. Because you’ll know me by then, and you’ll know that I’ll find you and cut your throat and murder your mother and make sure your life was a living hell, at least for your last moments.”
She glared at me but I saw that glimmer of fear again.
I hated threatening her. It wasn’t elegant and it wasn’t my style. But she had to understand that this wasn’t some kind of game I was playing. A lot depended on me, all my guys looked to me for leadership, and nothing was going to get in my way.
The crew was growing and we were going to take over the city. I had my role to play, and I wasn’t going to let Hedeon or anyone else down.
“Whatever,” she said finally, but she sounded uncertain.
“For today, you’re going to work. Normal day, like any other.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
“Really. All alone, too. I don’t think you need a leash when you know what the consequences of running away would be.”
She took a breath. “So I just sell shirts like usual?”
“Sure. Ship your online orders. Do whatever you need to do. I’ll check on you later.”
“This is another test, isn’t it?”
I tilted my head. “What makes you think that?”
“Because you’re weird. And you’re smiling.”
I laughed. Damn it, I couldn’t help myself.
“Just sell your shirts, my little diamond. I’ll be back later to pick you up.”
She said nothing as I turned and left her store.
I couldn’t wait to get started. But she was right, I had to put her through one more test.
This was her chance to try something stupid. She’ll spend all day thinking about it, weighing her options, making up plans. She might even follow through with something. Before I actually began selling out of here, I had to be sure she wouldn’t make this difficult.
So I dangled freedom in front of her and let her figure out what path she wanted to take.
I was an optimist. I believed she’d do the right thing and keep her mouth shut. But I’ve been wrong in the past, and I might be wrong again.
That was the fun of it. She might let me down, or she might not.
Only one way to find out.
I left the store, walked to my SUV, and drove off.
4
Leigh
The first ten minutes alone in my store were surreal.
It almost felt normal, like it was any other day.
Except of course it was anything but normal, since I started the morning as a captive, and likely would end it that way, too.
Owain played games. I could see it already. He liked it when I attacked him because it proved something to him. He wanted me to lash out and he wanted me to fight.
He thought it was fun.
I had to use that against him.
I didn’t know how though. He still held all the cards. He knew I’d do anting for my mother, and all he had to do was keep threatening her life to keep me in line. So I spent the afternoon trying to come up with ways to get out of this.
Customers came and went. A woman tried to bring her dog inside and I had to kick her out. Some kids bought shirts with Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangster on the front in white lettering. I wondered if their parents would even care.
Time slipped past, morning turned to afternoon. I took cash from the register and bought lunch at the deli a couple doors down. The guy behind the counter was overweight and balding, and he smiled at me. “Sell a lot of shirts?” he asked, and I laughed, although he said that to me every time I stopped in.
After lunch I packed shirts in the back. Late afternoon was always slow. As I finished getting the online orders ready to go out, I realized that I’d stopped thinking about Owain and let myself settle into my normal daily routine.
It felt easy to do. I’d been coming to work and going through these same motions for months now. It was comfortable, and right now I craved comfort and something normal more than anything else. I could so easy see how I could fall into his trap.
Selling his pills wouldn’t be hard. I could fit it into my typical day. Not much would change in my life and I could drift along on an eddy of routine and easy comfort until he got what he wanted and didn’t need me anymore.
He said he’d let me
