Page 37 of Bitter Lies

He rolls onto his back and coughs. “Just a little.”

I reach into my jacket pocket and pull out a crumpled napkin, dropping it onto his chest. “Wipe that shit off your face and stand the fuck up.”

Picking up the napkin, he tries three times before tossing it aside and opting to use his sleeve. The idiot rolls over into his own mess, getting it all over his hands. Then he has the nerve to look up at me and ask for help.

“I could use a hand.”

“Jesus Christ.” I grunt, grabbing the back of his shirt to jerk him to his feet. “If you get that shit on me, you won’t like what happens next.”

He sways when he nods and then wipes his disgusting hands off on his trousers. The man reeks of vomit and booze, and I want to chuck his arse into the dumpster out back.

Silas moves out of our way as I direct Cort into the back alley. As soon as we’re concealed, I shove him, forcing the dipshit to tumble forward, landing on his hands and knees into a puddle of god knows what.

It hasn’t rained for a few days, so it could be anything.

A sharp nudge from my shoe sends him tumbling back, finally collapsing onto his arse against the rusted fence. A look of defeat mars his face, but I refuse to feel sorry for him because he’s brought this all on himself.

“Why weren’t you here like we agreed?” Silas stands over him, turning a long, heavy pipe in his hand. “I should beat the shit out of you for making me wait.”

He must have found the pipe on the ground, decided it would do well driving his point into Cort’s skull.

Slouching more, Cort tilts his head back. “It’s all gone. Everything is gone.”

Silas crouches, meeting Cort’s eyes as his grip tightens around the pipe. “What do you mean, it’s all gone?”

Lifting his right hand, Cort waves it aimlessly through the air. “Tank and Urick took everything. I couldn’t pay, so they took it. The antiques, the money in the safe, the jewelry.” His eyes lock with Silas’s, and he swallows. “My precious diamond. It’s all fucking gone.”

The pipe whizzes through the air, a blur of metal, bouncing off the chain-link fence with a loud clang.

Cort and I flinch at the sound.

Silas shoots to his feet, rage rolling off him in waves. His jaw clenches, nostrils flaring as he draws a sharp breath. He’s one step away from losing it.

The other man scrambles, trying to crawl away. His retreat is cut short by the sharp click of my gun’s hammer.

The cold steel heavy in my hand, I aim and fire. The shot kicking up a burst of dust around his feet.

“Next time I won’t miss. Sit back down. Who’s Tank? The shithead with you at the club?”

I knew the man wasn’t a bodyguard. He was too eager to start trouble.

Cort collapses against the chain-link fence, shivering, his body wracked with sobs as he confesses. “I fucked up. Got greedy. When Urick came into my store, I thought I could fool him. Sell him something for more than it was worth. Didn’t work. He wasn’t an easy target. Shook me down instead.”

Sweat appears on his upper lip, and he wipes it off with his left arm. “Somehow, I kept the diamond’s value a secret. They thought it was nothing more than a prop… until you mentioned it during our meeting.”

Cort isn’t very smart, turning an accusing glare on Silas.

“They must’ve broken in last night. Took everything. Left me with one hell of a mess to clean up.” His shoulders shake.

“Just kill me,” he pleads, voice cracking. “It’d make my life easier.”

“But less fun for me.” The rhythmic thud of his pacing stops as Silas turns, a self-satisfied smirk pulling at his mouth, his sweaty brow gleaming in the dim light.

“Tell me who those men are so I can hunt them down and recover my diamond.” His gaze hardens. “It’s mine now. You’d do well to accept that.”

He waits just long enough to let that sink in. “Pull yourself together. Get your business back on track. So you can compensate me for the time you’ve wasted.”

“But…” Cort stops when Silas bends and grabs the pipe again. “How?”