“And you know all this how?”
“My friend’s brother runs the site.”
“I see.” Donetto cocked his gun, which was aimed at the bouncer. “Tell me why I should let any of you shitheads live.”
“We’ll cut you in,” Oscar said. “Jesus, Donetto. This is business. You of all people ought to understand that.”
“True, it’s business.” He walked closer to Oscar. “I’m a businessman myself. I kind of like Buchanan’s idea. I’m gonna shut you shitheads down. You’re exploiting innocent babes here.”
“Since when do you care about exploitation?” Oscar backed away from Donetto.
“When it’s being done without my knowledge or consent. I run this area, asshole. When you didn’t deal me in, you made a fatal mistake.”
Three more men entered the basement and held guns on Marta, Don, and Harper and Blake.
“Hey!” Blake protested.
Donetto looked over his shoulder. “Those two are harmless. Let ’em go.” He turned back to Oscar. “Toss all those cameras over here.”
When the three cameras were lined up in front of Donetto, he shot them each with a silencer.
Harper grimaced at each shot.
“Now let’s fire up that site of yours,” he said to Oscar, “and either it comes down, or your brains will be all over the monitor.”
He turned around and looked at Harper and Blake. “Damn it, I told you two to go. Don’t make me think twice.”
Shit. We can really go?
Harper nearly peed his pants. “Let’s get out of here,” he said to Blake.
“Our wallets,” Blake said.
Damn. Harper had forgotten about their wallets. Obviously Blake had been through this kind of thing before. “Who cares about the wallets? Jesus!”
Donetto turned slightly. “Christ almighty. Give them their goddamned wallets so they can get out of here!”
Don retrieved the wallets. Harper gripped his with white knuckles as he tripped up the stairs behind Blake.
When they were out of the unit and in the parking lot, Blake doubled over and heaved. When he was finished, he looked at the ground. “Sorry about that.”
Harper shook his head. “No need to be. I thought I was going to do the same thing all over that thug’s boots. I’ve never been so scared in my whole life.”
“Me neither, even when Donetto’s goons threatened me. This was some serious shit. But now he owes me one.”
“Huh? Why would he owe you one?”
“You paid my debt, so that wiped the slate clean. Now I clued him in on a competitor. In his circles, that’s a debt. It’s probably why he let us go.”
“Wow.” Harper
shook his head. “There’s a lot I don’t know about the family business, I guess.”
“I don’t know a lot more than you, but I know a few things. They hate being indebted to anyone. The thing I know most is I never want to get involved with any of those freaks again.”
“Brother, me neither.” Harper raked his fingers through his hair. He checked his watch. Five fifteen. “Let’s get back to the hotel. Thank goodness Amber’ll still be asleep so she won’t be worrying about us.”
* * *