All Avion could do was shake her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe this.”
I wasn’t about to try and convince Avion that what I said was true, mostly because I could see in her eyes that she was already half-convinced. She knew the kind of man her father was. “Of course, when your father couldn’t pay back the debt and I found out he was planning to run, I had to do something. I could have killed him, of course, but then I wouldn’t get my money back, and that’s not good business.
I had to figure out if there was a way I could maybe get my money, and he assured me, with more time, he could pay back his debt. So, I extended his loan with collateral to protect myself.” I held my hand out towards Avion. “You’re the collateral.” Avion seemed absolutely beside herself with the news, but I didn’t try to rush her, just let her process through it. “Now, I’m in a particular bind myself, because though I am responsible for my own business, my father is, albeit reluctantly, my boss. If he finds out I lost half a million dollars, I’m likely to get my head chopped off.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Avion said.
To my surprise, Avion didn’t seemasafraid of her situation as I expected her to be. She was certainly afraid, but any other person would be a sniveling mess by now. She was holding her own, and I could only imagine it was because she’d had a pretty fucked up life as well.
“You don’t seem afraid,” I said.
She crossed her arms. “Politics aren’t so different from organized crime at the end of the day. I often feel like I’m part of the mafia.” That was troubling to hear, to say the least. I was planning to use Avion’s fear to my advantage to a certain extent, but if anything, she was just proving that she truly was perfect. This was for the better. If Avion was a formidable foe, it would make it that much sweeter when she was finally begging me for more. “So what happens if my father doesn’t pay this debt? You’ll kill me?”
“Well,” my eyes drifted up and down her form, “that would be a waste, certainly, but I also can’t allow this debt to go unchecked. If the money is paid, I at least need to be able to give my father a head, so we’ll have to decide what to do in that circumstance.”
“Better start figuring it out,” she retorted.
“Do you not have faith in your father to save you? He’s done nothing but gush about you in the news,” I said.
She rolled her eyes and scoffed. “I hate to break it to you, but the happy Narzand family is smoke and mirrors for the press. If my father believes he got away with this debt and all he’s losing is me, he’s probably halfway to some far-off place and moving forward with leaving the office to my brother.”
I frowned at that explanation. It wasn’t as if I actually expected Curtis to ever pay back this debt, but if my extension of his debt in exchange for Avion wasthatmuch of a lapse, it was going to be a problem for me. Maybe Milli was right, and this wastoomuch of a risk. If one of the Narzand brothers became Governor, that wouldn’t be good for me, Merrick, or any of New York's underground syndicates. I probably should have had someone follow Curtis as well just in case he did try and skip town. I’d chase him wherever he went, exactly as I told Milli, but it would be much more difficult to deal with him on someone else’s turf.
I picked up my phone and navigated to Milli’s text feed and sent him a text to come to my office. Avion and I sat in total silence while we waited, and eventually, Milli entered my office. He walked across the floor until he was standing next to Avion, and I could tell he expected I was having her moved, but we weren’t quite there yet.
“I believe we have a problem,” I said.
Milli raised an eyebrow and I hated to admit it to him. “What sort of problem?”
I looked across at Avion, who still didn’t look as scared as I thought she would be. “Our new friend Avion is afraid her dad will still try to skip out on his debt.”
Milli side glanced at Avion, but Avion just remained looking straight at me. “And why does she think that?”
“I don’t mean very much to my father,” Avion said. “Trust me when I say this. If my life is the only thing that hangs in the balance between your debt and him, you will never see that money.”
I could tell in the way that Milli was looking at Avion that he was concerned about discussing this matter openly, with her in the room. He wasn’t entirely wrong, so I called a staff member to come and bring her to the room I had prepared for her.
“Please take Avion to her new room,” I told the staff. “Her room should always be watched…Always.”
“Yes sir,” the staff member said, then he hooked an arm under Avion’s and lifted her from the chair. She moved willingly and he was able to lead her out without too much issue, eventually leaving Milli and me in the room alone.
When the door closed, Milli looked back at me. “We discussed this contingency.”
“Yes, and I meant what I said, but I think we should probably have him tracked nonetheless, but I need it handled in a specific way. I want Curtis to know that we’re tracking him, but I donotwant his sons to know that. If the Narzand Brothers get involved, this is going to turn into an even larger issue. If you need to threaten him, I’m fine with that, just ensure that his sons do not find out.”
“Are you having second thoughts about this little plan of yours?” Milli asked.
Part of me wanted to refute the accusation immediately, but at the end of the day, he wasn’t wrong. Avion was proving to be responding differently to the situation than I expected, and if Curtis really did run, it was going to make my life so much harder. I expected that it would eventually become clear that Curtis wasn’t going to pay his debt, but by that time Avion would already have proven herself to be a valuable asset. Currently, she was just a prisoner and if Merrick found out that I hinged a half-million-dollar debt on this, he was going to turn me into swiss cheese.
“My plan is still a solid one, but the timing is going to be key,” I said. “We can’t let Curtis leave this country. That is going to put all of these gears into motion much sooner than is beneficial to us. While we do this, we need him here.”
“I’ll tell him that so long as he stays here and continues serving as Governor, we’ll give him all the time he needs to repay the debt,” Milli said.
A smile crossed my face. “Yes. That’s good, and maybe deliver it with a little bit of force, just to really send the message home.”
“Yes sir.”
He turned around to walk out and I called out, “Zariq.” He turned and looked back at me with his eyebrow lifted. “Are you communicating with my father?”
