They Sent A Broke Waitress To Humiliate A Deaf Crime Boss — The Outcome Left The Entire Syndicate S...
Chapter 6
Theme:
Font Size:
24px
The hostess at the front desk had gone completely still, her tablet frozen in mid-swipe. At the bar, Yusuf was holding the staff tip envelope. His eyes were moving between Tatum and Declan Morrow in what appeared to be a state of religious shock.Declan paused at the bar. He didn't speak. He looked at the envelope in Yusuf's hand, looked at Tatum, and with a single unambiguous gesture indicated that the envelope belonged to her.Yusuf held it out. Tatum took it.They walked out the front door and into the February cold.The city at midnight was a different creature than the city at noon. The streets were wet, the sky a low orange-gray that reflected the lights of the financial district back down onto the pavement. Tatum stood on the front step of Del Vecchio's, the envelope in her coat pocket, the cold hitting her face like a correction.Declan's driver was already at the curb—an older man in a long coat who went by Crane, as she would learn later. He was standing by the rear door of a black Volvo, his expression carrying the specific patience of someone who had spent decades waiting for this particular man to emerge from rooms.Declan took out his notebook. He wrote, using the door of the car as a surface:You did not have to walk out with me. You chose to.She wrote:You didn't have to help me. You chose to.He read that. Something moved through his expression, quick and controlled, like a door opening and closing in the same second. He wrote:Crane will take you home.She shook her head. She wrote:I live six blocks away.He wrote:Briggs has two men in a car outside.Tatum looked up at the street. A dark SUV was idling 30 meters down on the opposite side. She hadn't noticed it.Get in the car, Tatum. You can argue with me in the morning.She got in the car.The drive was quiet in the way that only a car with real soundproofing could be quiet. Crane navigated without being told where to go; she realized Declan must have already sent the address from his phone. And the city slid past the windows in long blurred streaks of light.Declan sat beside her, not close. He looked out his window. His notebook was on the seat between them.Tatum looked at the envelope in her lap: $2,000. Then she thought about Briggs' face when they walked out, the absolute erasure of his confidence, and she thought:That was not worth $2,000. Whatever that was, it had no price.She picked up the notebook. She wrote:Why didn't you throw us out the moment you realized what Briggs had done?She set it between them where he could see it.Declan read it. He thought for a moment, watching the street, then he picked up the pen: