He nods, his eyes lighting up with excitement. “I just hired a new manager, too. And she’s a real talent. She’s going to attack this establishment with fresh eyes. Guaranteed to double what our bottom line is in no time.”
I frown a little. “Didn’t you say something similar about your last guy? What was his name?”
“Jorge. Right, well, he was great, but he was very old school, you know. What we need is fresh blood to get the money really flowing around here.”
I narrow my eyes. This business that his cousin or whatever is trying to build, my gut tells me that it’s probably just the beginning of another of Rodriguez’s pipe dreams. Every now and then, he gets something like this in his head and he asks me formoney. I give it to him, and while he always pays it back, nothing ever comes of the thing he put his money behind.
And he’s never asked me for this much before. If he doesn’t get it back to me, I’m going to have to remind him that I’m the furthest thing from a bank.
Still… if he succeeds, it could mean an opportunity for me later. One day, when his brother’s cleaning products are about to go mainstream, I’ll show up at his doorstep and let him know that it never would have happened if not for me and he should pay tribute to me out of gratitude.
And if he fails, the insurance payout on this dying business will more than make up for what he owes when I burn it to the ground.
“Fifty thousand dollars?” I ask him. “That’s how much he needs?”
“That’s all. No more, no less. With that money, he’ll be up and running.”
I nod. “One month, Omar,” I tell him. “And twenty points. I expect every dime in my hand exactly thirty days from today.”
“Twenty? That’s ten thousand dollars on top of the fifty I owe you.”
I smile at him. “You brought this to me, my friend. Either you want the money or you don’t. No skin off my ass either way.”
“That’s not fair?—”
“Who do you think I am?” I drop my smile and a cock my head. “You think I’m some benevolent benefactor? Your fairy godfather? You think this is a game?”
He thinks for a moment, biting his bottom lip and shifting from one foot to the other. “Give me six months.”
I scoff. “No deal.”
“I can pay the interest back a little at a time with your regular payments,” he says. “Every month like usual. Then at the end of six months, I’ll have the entire fifty. Come on, Roman, you can’t beat that. You’ll be making hand over fist every month for six months and get a big bonus in the spring.”
I nod and throw a glance over at Ares. “I could also beat the shit out of you right now and take it out of your hide.”
“Sure,” he says with a nervous laugh. “But where’s the fun in that? You kick my ass, you’ll only get what’s in my safe, and that’s not even ten percent of what you’d get over half a year.”
It’s a good point. As fun as tossing him around this room might be just for assuming I was a bank is tempting, but it’s also temporary. Striking a deal with him means I make money either way.
“Sign over the ownership of the club to me.”
He blinks. “W–What? Hold on?—”
“I’ll give you the six months with the monthly payments. But I want the club as collateral. Keeps us both honest.”
He seems to think that over for a second, then he nods. “All right. Deal.”
“Good. Six months. One and three-quarters points on top of your normal payments for the next six months. And in the spring, I’ll come through for the remaining fifty thousand.”
His shoulders relax and the tense look on his face drops. “Thank you, Roman.”
“Save your thanks for the spring. I’ll send Ares tomorrow night with the money.” He nods as he starts to turn away and walk back around his desk to his chair. “And Omar? Don’t fuck me.”
He laughs nervously. “Of course not. You can count on me.”
Ares and I leave the office without another word. Famous last words if I’ve ever heard them.
The rain didn’t comeuntil earlier this morning. I knew it would arrive when I woke up. Last night, I could smell it on the wind in the wee hours before dawn as my driver pulled up to my front door.
