Chapter 7: Who Vouched For You?

Chapter 7: Who Vouched For You?

Adriano

“Stealing?” The mechanic played dumb.

Kelvin grabbed the guy and shoved him back into his seat.

“Now before we kill you for cheating in our establishment, I want you to show me how you did it.” I said and his eyes got even wider and he shook his head repeatedly, stuttering.

“I don't know what you are talking about?” I pulled his buddy up who was bleeding from the nose and mouth and sat him down across from him, the whole room was at stand still, watching.

“Do you want to be a cheater and a liar before I shoot you? Have some honor.” I mocked him without a smile.

The guy who was bleeding tried cleaning his face. Kelvin slammed his hands down on the table, making him keep them there while Robort counted out his winning and pocketed them.

“How many times have you guys been here? How much money do you owe us for the past games?” I asked and got no response.

“Who vouched for you?” I looked around, sure enough, Costello's nephew hung his head low and raised his hand.

“I didn't know they were cheats.” He muttered.

“Didn anybody know? Speak up now because you won't like my reaction if I find out later.” I said to the crowd.

Everyone's eyes were down and heads were shaking, no. Grown ass men and not a single one of them could look me in the eyes when there was murder in the air.

“Kelvin, take these two out of here for a chat.” I told him.

The guys tried getting to their feet quickly in hopes of escape but all they did was run into my bouncers. Two huge slabs of meat are what they are, the two were grabbed and taken out into a separate more private room. I looked around at the crowd and tucked in the turned over chair to its rightful place.

“Continue, gentleman.” I waved for everyone to relax and go back to what they were doing.

I knew those guys weren't problematic people, smart enough not to try me. When we went to the basement, I saw the two mechanics or professional card crooks and they were fidgeting and nervous. One was bleeding all over the fucking place while the other was almost ready to cry. I dropped a deck of cards in front of his feet and told him to pick it up. We were in an empty room, other than a table and a few folding chairs. A place some of my soldiers would hang out waiting for shipment, right now I was using it for an interrogation. When the guy picked up the card, I asked him the same question.

“Show me how you did it.”

I think he finally realized the severity of all this so he complied and without silly bullshit responded. With his pinky fingers, he could move so quickly that you could barely register seeing a single thing. A blink of the eye and you would think you were crazy, he was probably one of the best I ever seen doing that bottom deck dealing.

“What makes you stupid enough to try this here, in my club? Do you know who I am?” I asked, the two of them nodded and the one dripping blood kept using his shirt to clean up the mess. They spewed bullshit until Kelvin slammed his hand down from them to shut up.

“I really want to kill you both but I have a proposition for you fools. You are going to pay me back every cent you ever took from this place and then you are going to work for me. Your skills belong to me now.”

*****

Jessica Point of View

My brother told me he found me a job which was fast since I have only been here for two days. We were going to meet them today for a proper introduction and I was surprised when he told me it was a tattoo parlor. I can't tattoo, so I wasn't sure what they would have me doing there. The shop is called Bizzyaski Ink and all I knew so far was that the place was owned by a set of twins. It was close to where my brother said his office was, so maybe the same location will give us a chance to see one another more often.

They had a cool sign hanging outside and upon entering, the place was very clean and white. On either side of the entry room were antique looking. The floor across the whole shop was hardwood, the walls were plain white and hanging on them were framed pictures of different sketches of tattoos all over. Two mini half walls interrupted that front entrance waiting area from the actual tattoo station and behind it was the counter. They had a lot of funky cool stuff laying around and the place was definitely a vibe for sure.

“Kiddo?” My brother called, but the shop wasn't technically open yet, so the whole front area was quiet.

Behind a dark wood door, I heard a muffled voice before it opened and a man came out. The man would be my senior with some couple of years, kowe low fade cropped hair, a very light brown color that was almost a dirty blonde. The top strands were longer and gelled back in a messy way, he had well kept face stubble and a straight slightly upturned nose on his slender face. His dark eyes moved around in his head as he took me in for the first time, he is handsome.

“Jessica, this is my buddy I was telling you about.” Kelvin said and we both extended hands to shake. When I shook his hands, I saw his arms are nice but the rest of him is more lean.

“So nice to meet you, this guy here mentioned you a lot. Nice to put a face to the name, Jessica.” He smiled wide in a charming way.

“Thank you for even considering hiring me.” I said and he waved me off and tapped my brother's back.

“I will show you around the shop but for now let's sit for a minute so I can explain to you what your job would be here, alright?” The guy named Chase said and waved us over to those double matching chaise lounge cushions.

I sat beside my brother and he was across from us, sitting on the very edge of the cushion.

“I am going to make you the shop manager and your duties will involve management tasks like tracking expenses, scheduling appointments for our tattoo artists and their clients and keeping track of inventory. Does that sound alright?” He asked me but looked at my brother as if for approval.

Kelvin was in a full suit again today so I guess this is always how he dressed now which was funny. He was leaning back on the sofa just nodding alone silently, it was weird that he has such boss energy now. I am not used to this version of him that comes into a room and has people looking for his approval. Mark did the same thing yesterday.