“Grady!” Monica ran out into the hallway and called out to me.
“Stay here!” I spun towards her, my face roaring with rage—it was enough to stop her in her tracks.
“DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT it.” I drew on the man at the door of Walter’s club before he could even get a hand on the gun at his waist.
“You’re making a mistake.” The man put his hands up and took a step back.
“No, Walter is the one who made the mistake.” I slammed the butt of the Glock into the man’s face and took his gun from his holster once he was on the ground.
“WALTER, YOU SON OF a bitch!” I hit the man behind the door the second it was open and started shifting my stance as the guys inside the club tried to stand. “If one of you moves, it won’t be a warning shot.”
“Grady, what the fuck?” Walter came walking down the steps to the right near the bar. “I thought we had a deal—you pay the debt and everything is fine.”
“You sent Ray to threaten my wife?” I pointed my gun at Walter. “I told you to stay the fuck away from my family.”
“He didn’t send me.” Ray walked out of the back room, drying his hands with a towel.
“Ray...” Walter’s face reflected shock. “We gave him a week.”
“He still has the week—what’s left of it. I just wanted to make sure he had a little motivation.” Ray smiled and I turned my gun to him as he approached. “Grady, why don’t you lower your weapon before one of these guys gets an itchy trigger finger.”
“He’ll die before they can do anything.” I pointed the gun towards Walter again.
“Then what, Grady?” Ray sighed and shook his head. “You’ll die and I’ll fuck that pretty wife of yours over and over until she doesn’t even remember your name.”
“Ray!” Walter’s face snapped from shock to anger. “That isn’t how we do things.”
“It isn’t how you did things—things have to change. Remember? We talked about this.” Ray took another step towards me.
“That’s too far.” Walter walked towards Ray. “Grady, I’m sorry. Consider the debt forgiven. Ray, you’ve taken this to a level I’m not comfortable with anymore.”
“Your comfort means shit to me old man.” Ray spun around, caught Walter in his grasp, and with a quick twist, I heard Walter’s neck snap. The limp body of my former boss slumped to the ground.
“Ray, what the fuck?” I opened my mouth in shock as I stared at Walter on the floor.
“I played his game and let him think he was in charge as long as I had to.” Ray shrugged. “He’s no longer useful to me.”
“You fucking bastard.” I shook my head in disbelief. “He built all of this.”
“You know what they say.” Ray chuckled. “You can’t take it with you when you go. Now, as you can imagine—I’m not going to forgive the debt.”
“Then I guess I’m just going to kill you where you stand.” I aimed the gun at him and started to squeeze the trigger.
“Think long and hard about this decision, Grady. If you kill me, you and Walter will have matching coffins. I could snap my fingers and have any one of these men kill you. Sure, you might take out a few of them, but they’re willing to die for me because they know I’m a man that gets shit done—unlike this old fool. Why don’t we make a deal—a deal that will end with only one of us dying.” He narrowed his eyes and exhaled through his nose.
“I’m listening.” I looked around the room. What Ray said was right—every single one of them looked poised to draw on me. There was no way I could take them all out.
“I like to settle things with my fists.” Ray held up his hands and I saw scars across almost every knuckle. “Walter said you used to be the same way.”
“Yeah.” I nodded.
“Tomorrow night, you and I finish this. I’m sure you know where Walter likes—liked—to go and watch the fights?” He motioned to the dead body beside him.
“I do.” I had been there with Walter a few times when I worked for him and even had a couple of fights myself when I was younger.
“We get in the ring. If you can take me down, that’s the end of it. If you can’t, you die—and I comfort your grieving widow.” Ray’s lips curled to an emotionless smile.
“I’ll fight you.” I nodded. “But Monica isn’t some prize that goes to the winner.”