KRUGER
“So they’re goingto blackmail him into letting us keep him?”
“That’s the plan. For now, Theo will have to stay at the apartment because we don’t have a room for him. But as soon as we can find a place that works, he can move in with us.”
“Theo says his stepdad won’t like it. He’ll cause problems just for the sake of making sure Theo is unhappy,” Delphi says.
“Small-minded, vindictive people are only ever happy when they’re hurting others. So that doesn’t surprise me. We’re expecting it, though.” I wish we had the legal right to take action, but I don’t see that happening.
“I want to rebrand Au,” she tells me out of the blue.
“Okay? You want to keep it as a pawn shop?”
“What? No.”
“You said rebrand. I thought that’s what you meant.”
“Oh, nothing like that. I don’t really have any interest in that side of things. Will that be a problem?”
“Of course not. It’s yours to do with what you want.”
“I wasn’t sure if it was expected for me to let the club wash their money through the place.”
“Times have changed, Delphi. For the most part, Raven Souls is legal.”
“For the most part?”
“That’s all you need to know. Plausible deniability. Either way, there is no need to launder any money. And even if there were, Midas’s new business venture will be up and running soon. That place will make a killing. Of that I have no doubt.”
She chuckles. “There’s a reason you guys call him Midas, after all.”
“Exactly. So what’s your idea, then?”
“Well, we already have a diner, so I’m not going to infringe on that. Besides, I want something a little different. Something born of want over necessity. I think I want to open a book and coffee shop. Call it something like The Book Nook. It can be a place people come to relax and unwind. They can buy their book and their drink and curl up in a cozy spot in a huge armchair without waiting to get home to begin.”
“Okay, I can see that. What about food? Are you gonna sell that? Because if so, you’ll need to think about having a kitchen added.”
She nods. “I’ll need a kitchen, but I think I’ll stick to things like sandwiches and cakes. Maybe do breakfast sandwiches and muffins for breakfast, and the usual things for lunch. Heck, I could do an afternoon tea like they do across the pond.”
I take in how excited she is and smile. “I think you’ve already made up your mind. You should do it. You have nothing to lose.”
She lets out a deep breath, and I can see her running through things in her head. “I could pay Theo to help out, give him a way to earn a little extra cash around school hours.”
“He’d love that. Circus and Capone both work in construction. Once they’ve finished up with Midas, I’m sure they’d jump at the chance to help.”
“It doesn’t have to be them. I can call another team in. They have to be busy.”
I look over at her and see her fiddling with her cuff. “Someone say something to you tonight?”
“Huh? Oh no. Nobody said anything. Probe was the only one to speak to me, and that was only when I was picking a song to sing.”
She goes quiet again, and it suddenly dawns on me where her head is at.
“Fuck, Delphi, this was my fault. I warned everyone to stay away. I didn’t want you to get overwhelmed on your first time back.”
“Really?” She looks at me, searching for the truth.
“Yeah, really. They’d have probably swarmed you otherwise.”
