I smiled back, best I could under the circumstances. “I’m here to see Alvin,” I said as confidently as I could. “Could you please let him know that Devi Westland is here to speak with him?”
She gave me an understanding smile. “Sure thing, sweetheart.” The blonde beauty couldn’t be over twenty-five, but her voice held a note of an old soul. One who’s seen too much.
Holding onto my purse like it was my lifeline, I waited patiently as she went to the back of the store. Only a couple of minutes later, she was back. “Go on back,” she told me. “It’s the second door on your left.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
I gave her another quick smile and headed towards the back of the store. Looking around, it reminded me of an unkempt corner store. There were boxes lining the hallway and paint was peeling off the walls. There were also water stains on the ceiling, and I knew there was no way I wanted to be caught here after dark.
When I stopped at the second door on the left, I raised my hand and knocked. The sound was loud, and for some reason, the door being metal raised the hairs on the back of my neck. However, the door opened before I could change my mind and run back out the same way I’d come in.
I had no idea what Alvin Fischer looked like, but the guy who answered the door was surprisingly good-looking. Not model material, but good-looking all the same. At around six-foot, he had really light blonde hair and a pair of ice-blue eyes that seems to look right through you. It was like they were hypnotic enough to compel you to never lie to him.
“Devi Westland?” I nodded, and he opened the door wide enough to let me through. “I’m Alvin Fischer,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to officially meet you.”
I turned to face him as the sound of the shutting door felt like a slug to my chest. “Officially?”
He didn’t quite grin, but it was something. “Well, I know your brother quite well,” he said. “Also, The Opera is one of my favorite places to dine. I’ve seen you there a few times.”
A cold chill danced down my spine, and it was hard to ignore my instincts screaming at me to get out of here. “Oh…well, I…hadn’t realized…”
This time, Alvin did grin. “It’s quite alright. I don’t expect you to remember every person who walks into The Opera.” I didn’t know what to say to that, so I said nothing. “So, Devi, what can I do for you?” Then he quickly remembered his manners. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Would you like to sit?”
I shook my head. “No. No, thank you. I’m…I’m just here to pay off my brother’s debt.”
There was no masking his surprise. “You are?”
“Yes.” I reached into my purse and pulled out the envelope Cassius had given me. Handing it out to him, I said, “Thirty-thousand, correct?”
He looked at me disbelievingly. “You were able to get thirty-thousand dollars to pay off Keith’s debt?”
I nodded. “Yes.” Cold shivers teased my nerve endings as he started laughing. “Wh…what’s so funny?”
Getting himself under control, he shook his head at me in the way a veteran patronizes a rookie. “Oh, Devi, honey, I think your brother may have misled you a bit.”
Oh, God. Did he owe more money?“What do you mean? Does he owe more than thirty-thousand?”
Alvin slid his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels. “Oh, no, he owes the thirty. But I was pretty adamant about my preferred method of repayment.”
“Meaning?” I asked.
Then those ice-blue eyes traveled down my body and back up, and there was no mistaking where he was going with this. “Three nights at ten-thousand dollar each.”
I knew what he meant, but I asked anyway. “Three nights of what?”
“You.” The word echoed around the room like the slamming gates of a prison cell.
“No.” There was no other answer. “Take your money, and…we’ll just-”
“I don’t want the money, Devi,” he said, and the way he said my name was with a familiarity he wasn’t entitled to. “I have all the money I need. What I want isyou.”
I shook my head. “No,” I repeated. “No.”
Stepping forward, he grabbed the envelope out of my hand and stuffed it back in my purse. “I’m not taking the money, Devi,” he said again. “So, take this back to whoever lent it to you, so you’re not owing two people money you can’t afford to pay back, and I’ll give you the entire three weeks I gave your brother to warm up to the idea.”
“N-”
