Page 84 of Until Ace

“Jim was the one who got to our witness and made threats to scare him off. He was sent there for a different reason, but thank fuck he didn’t have the stomach. That’s why the Russians are after you and making threats. They were trying to scare you enough to reach out to your brother, so it would lure him out from his hiding spot.”

“What?” I whisper, unable to comprehend what Ace is telling me.

“Mandy,” Ace calls my name softly as if preparing me for the punch he’ll deliver with his next words. “Jim is also the one who broke into your apartment. What he wanted to accomplish with that, I have no clue. In all the mess he made, that’s not even the worst part. He hooked up with one of Gorskiy’s girls, roughed her up, and took her out of commission for a while. That’s why he offered you up. That’s the debt. All of that came after, when he tried to right his wrong with the girl, then fucked up at the motel by leaving the witness breathing. Enter you into the scene.”

“What?” I repeat.

This doesn’t make sense.

None of it does.

How could my brother be in so deep with the Russian mob?

Sure, he screws up a lot and gambles even more. Can’t hold a job for more than two weeks. But… the mafia?

“Ace, I don’t understand.”

“I know, baby. I’m sorry, but it’s true.”

I look out the windows of the dealership, not watching anything in particular, until I see a shadow on the pavement.

My eyes shoot up more, and that’s when I see him coming inside.

Right to me.

“Ace, he’s here,” the words are strangled in my throat, and I barely have the energy to push them out.

Never.

Never in my life did I think I would be scared of my brother.

But right this very moment, I hope to God I don’t faint from fear.

“Mandy, go into the break room and lock yourself in!” Ace shouts in my ear. “I’m on my way.”

“I—”

Jim’s words interrupt me.

“Hello, dear sister. Fancy seeing you here,” he says as he sidesteps the platform and comes behind my desk.

I stay seated and look up at him.

Ace shouting my name is the last thing I hear before Jim touches something metal to the skin of my neck, a jolt goes through me, and then…. everything turns black.

I come back slowly. There’s a vile, almost sweet stench burning my nose.

God, it smells like someone peed in here.

But where that here is, I have no idea.

I try to open my eyes to see where I am, but when I do, everything is covered in a white sheen. It’s almost like someone put gauze over my eyes.

I try moving my hands, intent on rubbing the blur from my eyes, but there’s a metallic clank, and something bites into my skin at my wrists.

“What the...?” I mutter groggily before twisting to look behind my hip and blinking rapidly to clear my vision.

The sight of my hands cuffed behind my back takes me a few seconds to wrap my head around.