His role as head of the mafia was the worst kept secret around here. No one dared to talk about it in front of him, but everyone at least suspected that he was deeply involved in the criminal organization.
They knew to fear him.
“Empty your pockets,” he commended, anger lacing every word.
“W-what?” Gene looked at the others in the kitchen before his eyes settled on Stevie. “What’s going on?”
Owen answered the question before Stevie could. “I’ll tell you what’s going on, you have thirty seconds to empty your pockets of the money you’ve stolen from me tonight before I take it by force.”
Everyone in the kitchen froze, staring at the two of them. Tension was thick in the air. Gene’s shifty eyes still didn’t meet Owen’s, and his cheeks turned red. Owen waited a moment to see if he was going to deny it.
He didn’t.
Sighing, the man pulled the cash out of his pocket. Stevie took it from him while Owen continued to glare. He took a step toward Gene, watching as the blood drained from the young bartender’s face.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Owen asked, the threat clear in his voice. “Don’t you know who you’ve been stealing from? I’ve broken kneecaps for less.”
It was true. Killing was something he tried not to do unless it was necessary, but a little violence got his point across nicely. It also made intimidating piss-ants like this guy easy.
“I…I didn’t…”
Owen scoffed. The man looked like he was going to piss himself.
“Get the hell out of here,” he said. “Don’t ever come back or it’ll be the last thing you do.”
For just a moment, it looked like Gene might argue, but it turned out that he wasn’t that stupid. Turning away, he stormed out of the kitchen, shoving past the curious servers that had gathered there to watch and turning toward the back exit.
Stevie tucked the cash away with a chuckle as everyone in the kitchen and the servers went back to work. “There can’t be more than a hundred bucks here.”
“I wouldn’t care if it was ten dollars. I won’t be disrespected,” Owen said. He headed out of the kitchen, and she fell into step at his side.
“Well, after a scene like that, I’m sure that no one else will even think of pulling that kind of thing themselves.”
“Good.” They reached the back door, and he paused. “Just make sure that we’re back to being fully staffed by the weekend. I don’t need to worry about the restaurant on top of everything else.”
Stevie nodded. “Consider it done.”
Owen left after that, glad to know that there was at least one thing he could depend on.
2
RUBY
There was a nervous flutter in Ruby’s stomach as she walked into the restaurant. She’d been looking for a job for two weeks, ever since she arrived in the city, and Walsh’s Irish Eatery was the most recent place she’d come across advertising a position for a waitress. They wanted someone that could also fill in as a bartender when needed, so she hoped that her past experience doing both of those jobs would land her the job.
Her savings account was dwindling way too fast for her liking, and she was eager to have some money coming in before she was completely broke. The ad actually listed decent pay for a waitress, not just the minimum amount that so many other places gave their employees that earned tips.
That meant that she could make some serious money if she worked at this restaurant, maybe even enough to get her own place soon. She’d been mooching off her best friend for the past two weeks, staying in her guest room until she was able to find a job.
Maybe moving to a new city without a job or a plan was a reckless move, but she was desperate to get out of her hometown. A fresh start was worth a little risk, right?
She hoped so.
It was morning, so the restaurant wasn’t open for lunch yet, and the place was nearly empty. The dining room was big and split into two main sections with a rounded bar in the center, convenient for waitresses and guests to come up for drinks. There was another smaller dining area near the back of the room that was elevated two steps up and surrounded by a half wall that made it an obviously separate space, maybe for private parties or special guests.
There were tall windows on every exterior wall with dark green curtains that were tied back, allowing sunlight to shine into the restaurant, and Ruby could tell that the place was kept clean. There was no dust that she could see, the tables and the walls were free of any food residue, and the vinyl plank flooring had obviously been swept and mopped recently.
The only person in sight was a woman seated at a table alone with a small stack of resumes in front of her. She was looking down at her phone as Ruby approached, as if she hadn’t heard her enter.
