All That Bleeds by Kimberly Frost Read Free Book Online Page B

Etherlin unprotected. Or sending her to the Etherlin at all. “She thought I might give her to Jacobi tonight.”

    Ox’s laughter echoed around the elevator.

    “You find that funny?” Merrick asked.

    “Yeah, boss, I do,” he said, barking out another laugh. “If Jacobi showed up here demanding a half dozen rats from our sewers, I don’t think you’d give them to him. I know you’re not turning over the only girl you send flowers to.”

    “Roses are cheap,” Merrick said lightly.

    “Not the kind you send.”

    The elevator stopped at the ground floor.

    “Look sharp,” Merrick said as the doors slid open to reveal the nightclub he lived above. His club.

    The Crimson’s décor was inspired by its name. Large framed black-and-white prints of glamorous women hung in corners, the only color being their merlot-colored lipstick. Small vases of crimson roses sat on each black marble-topped table. One wall was papered in smoky pewter with deep red crushed-velvet vines crawling across it. On the balconiedsecond floor, plush burgundy couches and chaises encouraged people to recline and do things better left unnamed.

    Merrick wondered what Alissa would think of the place when she saw it. Would it be too dramatic and sensual for her? The only thing he could recall about the inside of the Etherlin mansion he’d been in was that the place had been brightly lit and unremittingly beige.

    He nodded to the bartender and walked to the back of the club. He opened the door to a private room and found Cato Jacobi and two of his guys sitting at the copper table. They each had a drink in hand, and Candy, one of the Crimson waitresses, was topping off Cato’s tumbler.

    He and his guys stood when Merrick and Ox entered.

    “You mind if we get right to it?” Cato asked when they were all seated.

    “Go ahead,” Merrick said.

    “You violated the rules tonight. Came into my territory uninvited. Took something that belongs to me.”

    “You’re misinformed,” Merrick said.

    “You deny it?” Cato scoffed.

    Merrick simply stared at him, causing Cato to explode into curses.

    “Look, I know it was you,” Cato snapped as he pulled out a small manila envelope. He opened the clasp and dramatically pulled out several photographs, slapping them on the table in front of Merrick.

    Merrick spread them out, glanced them over, and restacked them. The pictures had been taken from a security camera outside Cato Jacobi’s building, and they showed Merrick carrying an unconscious Alissa North away from the building, but there was nothing about his clothes to identify him, and his face was covered by the mask.

    “Who’s the girl?” Merrick asked.

    “You know who she is!” Cato snapped. “I want her back. And I want a big friggin’ payout since you came into my territory without talking to me.”

    “She looks familiar. She looks a little like that heiress from the perfume commercials, but I know it can’t be, because onlya moron would think he could get away with kidnapping a muse from the heart of the Etherlin. That would open the Varden up to the biggest crackdown we’ve ever seen. Extremely bad for business.”

    “Oh, no,” Cato said, showing off a crooked smile. “I’ve got it covered. An insurance policy. They’re not going to come after her.”

    Merrick narrowed his eyes. “Why not?”

    “None of your goddamned business. Just get her ass down here. And I’ll take fifty grand to start for your little joyride across the border.”

    Merrick slid the envelope to him and stood. “Nice of you to visit tonight, Cato, but don’t make a habit of it.”

    “We’ll bring my car around back,” Jacobi said. “Your guy here can bring the girl and the money down to it.”

    Merrick shook his head. “The guy in the pictures could be anyone.”

    “The hell it could!”

    “And if she’s so important, maybe you should’ve tried a little harder to hold on to her.”

    “You son-of-a-bitch,” Cato shouted,