Page 39 of Queenpin
Chapter 19
Lucian
I’m surprised at how easy going our dinner is. Well that’s until I see one of the fuckers who owes me money. I excuse myself from the table and walk over to the busboy who’s trying to avoid eye contact with me.
“Where’s my money?” I question.
The little wannabe gangster jumps in his skin. “I don’t have any money!”
Then he looks over at me with wide eyes. “It’s been you this whole time? You’ve been hiding behind a mask and you’ve been a woman? Are you fucking kidding me?”
I get up to his face with my switch blade in my hand. It’s heavy but quick. It’s the perfect blade to get the job done without having too many people see what I’m doing.
“Yeah, I’m a woman. I have a pussy; tits and I make men beg for a taste. What do you have to say about that?” I retort.
“I’m not afraid of some chick!”
I’m quick with my knife, stabbing him right in the neck. He falls down with a thud. I yank the knife out, dripping with blood. The wannabe gangster’s eyes are open as he gasps for air, reaching up to his bloody throat. There’s no saving himself. He’s going to die and I’m going to wait for him to die.
“Too bad I’m going to use you as a message on what happens when people fuck with Lucian McGrace!” I’m standing over the body as he has the aftershock of death.
Once he stops twitching, I turn on my feet and go back to my date.
“Are you ready to go?” I ask him.
He’s finished his food, eyeing my steak. Like hell I would eat in front of him. I wouldn’t allow him to know any of my weaknesses.
“Yes,” Mason answers as he reaches into his pocket to pull out money.
I hold my hand up. “I own this place. Do you honestly think I have to pay for dinner?”
His eyes are wide. “Okay.”
***
I’m somewhere between sleeping and being awake. Right on the cusp but there’s banging on my door that wakes me up fully. Before I can get out of bed, I hear my front door open and then crash into the wall.
I reach under my pillow and grab my gun. It’s cocked and ready to go before whoever broke into my place, comes crashing into my room. “Lucian! Where the fuck is the money that is due?” I hear the cruel voice that used to haunt me for all of those years. I have grown up and realized that monsters didn’t hide under the bed. Monsters lurk around in real life and are disguised as normal people.
“Paul, you got your money this week. I am not giving you anymore,” I calmly state and then point the gun at his head. “This has got to stop, or I am going to shoot you.”
My finger presses against the trigger in an attempt to remind me that I have this under control this time. Paul doesn’t get to make the decisions anymore. This is all my show and he’s one of my fucking players.
“You can’t shoot me, Luca. Think about all of the things that I have on you that will come up if you do that…” Paul says cockily. His face is tilted to the side and even though it’s still dark in my room, I can see the outline of his body.
Even though he’s my brother, we have never been close. My first memory of him is the time where he pushed me into a pool before I could swim. Obviously, I lived but I almost died. Paul is a disgrace to the family name because he’s the one that got us all into some major trouble by getting our parents killed. He’s the reason why I ended up on the streets.
It’s a tough fucking thing to come to terms with. If he wouldn’t have been such a dick, I wouldn’t have made it to where I am now.
***
The air is thick with tension and I feel it sizzle against my overheated skin. I’m hiding underneath my bed when the door to the front of the small house that I live in with my parents crashes against the wall.
“Where is that fucker at?” A menacing voice shouts through the house.
I cower deeper into the blankets that I have myself cocooned in, hoping that they won’t come in here.
“I don’t know what you are talking about!” My father shouts. His voice is still thick with his Cuban descent, but his English is better than my mother’s.
