“My family won’t sell.”
I stared him down. “Everyone has a price. All it will take is one bad post on the internet and a video clip about how you fired Luca to ruin your business. Especially the part about “the old people” as you called them.”
“Why would you do that?”
I looked at my watch. “Because I can.”
Surprisingly, he made the right decision and opened the computer. He really shouldn’t underestimate me or my desire for revenge. My wealth had grown exponentially in the last twoyears due to my shrewd investment strategies. But luckily for him, I wasn’t in the mood to ruin him. Yet. “Write it down.”
He rolled his eyes but did as I asked. Handing it over, I glared again. “No address?”
He shrugged. “Only a P.O. Box. Most are.”
I tossed the envelope back onto the desk. “Don’t forget what I said.”
He held up his hands. “That’s the only number I have on file. Call it if you don’t believe me.”
“You had better hope I find him.”
Turning, I reached for the doorknob and yanked it open, allowing it to bounce off the wall behind me. Waving to Mitch, I strode through the bar and onto the sidewalk. Typing the number into my phone, I made the call. It went to voicemail, with no way to know it was him.
Ending the call, I texted my New York financial advisor to find out who owned the building that housed the Midnight Market, in case I wanted to add it to my portfolio.
Gripping my phone, I walked back to the apartment, determined to find Luca Vaughn. If he wouldn’t allow me to help him, I’d come up with something else. No wasn’t an option.
Chapter 3
Luca
I spent Saturday morning scrolling through the spreadsheet I kept for my finances. Breaking it to my roommate that I’d lost my job hadn’t been easy, but he’d been there. John Grmaldi had been my roommate for two years. He was a handsome Italian-American with a chiseled jaw that could cut glass. An aspiring actor and full-time bartender, John was going to make it big one day with looks like that. I just wish that day were now because he lived as close to the edge of disaster as I did. My only saving grace was that it was early enough in the month to find something else that worked with my schedule. Maybe I could shuffle my expenses to make the rent, or skip the student loan payment without ruining my credit. It wasn’t much, since I’d had most of my undergrad covered with scholarships.
John padded out of the bathroom to get his coffee from the refrigerator. “How’s it looking?”
I exhaled as I looked at the red subtotal at the bottom. “Pretty bleak at the moment. But if I’m creative, I think I can make it.”
I went to the small kitchen cabinet to assess the food supply. If I skimped and shopped the reduced goods aisle at the market, I might be okay. We kept dry goods at work that had to be discarded when the expiration date lapsed. Thirty dollars a weekwas doable if I stretched it. I’d done it before. I’d even dumpster dived when necessary. I wasn’t ashamed. It had been a necessity. It wouldn’t kill me to do it again to make the rent.
“What about a payday loan from one of those places?” he suggested.
I shook my head. “Too risky. I’ll never catch up like that. I could probably donate plasma again.” I could check into the rates.
“Got anything to pawn?”
“I don’t think so.” My computer was the only thing of value I had, and it was already old. No one would want my car, and there was no way I’d let it go. It had been my home before this place opened. Besides, I needed it for work.
“You could do an OnlyFans account. You’re hot, sexy hair and tatts.”
That was laughable for so many reasons. “Yeah, I don’t think so. You could do it. You’d make a killing. Besides, that might cost me my real job.”
“We could do it together,” he suggested. “We could cover your face, and I could do all the work.”
I nixed that immediately. “Nope. I’ll find something.”
John snorted. “Think the old people would care?”
“It’s not them I’m worried about. Susanna would kick my ass if she found out. And the HR department would fire me on the spot. Besides, I only have one more semester to finish my master’s, and I’ll move up in pay. Maybe I won’t need a second job.”
I had no problem with people doing whatever they had to do to make it in this world. Living here was expensive, but it was all I knew. I’d worked hard to keep myself out of that life when it would have been so easy to give up.
