Chapter Five
So much for manners. Tannin was nothing but an asshole. Rai went back inside, dropped her bags on the sofa, and crossed her arms as she faced the three men. Which scenario was worse? Being held prisoner by three biker dudes, or a bullet to the head from a mobster?
Never ask if a day can get any worse. It can. Big time.
“You have no right to keep me here, or to threaten to use me as a sex toy.” Strong words from a woman about to pee her pants from fear.
“So call the cops,” said the tall creepy dude with massive muscles and more ink than Tannin. He must be the leader of the pack.
The third man had handsome features, thick, dark hair, and big dark eyes. He looked Italian. Sicilian, actually. Hot fear shot through her. She’d made the worse mistake of her life trusting Tannin.
“Tell us your story,” said Tannin. “Start with your name. Your full name.”
She met his gaze, more hurt than she should be at how quickly he’d changed from wanting to help her, to threatening her. All men were nothing but assholes, and this guy proved it for her all over again. “Raiyana Maria Teresa Parente. And how do I know you’re not in league with the people looking for me?”
“Who’s looking for you?”
“A man named Vito Cinquepalmi.” He didn’t flinch. She glanced from Tannin’s face to those of the other two. No surprise at all, which meant they knew the name. She was toast.
Tall dude placed a plate on the bed and pointed. “You can eat that if you want. Legs went to a lot of trouble to make it.”
Rai bit her lip in an effort to hold back the tears. She wouldn’t give these goons the satisfaction of seeing her cry. “Let me give you the background first.” Though why she was even bothering was a mystery. “Three weeks ago, I discovered the two largest clients I have—”
“What do you mean by clients?”
She sighed, eyed the sandwich, and grabbed it off the plate. Hunger always won out over having to tell her life history to three strangers. After taking a bite and chewing it, she swallowed. “I have an MBA in marketing from Cleveland State. Three years ago, I started a company called Silver Lining Marketing.”
Rai took another bite of the sandwich. It really was delicious. Too bad she wouldn’t be staying here. This beat by miles the takeout food she normally ate all week. “I had an operating budget of ten thousand dollars, which is ridiculously small for those kinds of firms. But I…” She was not going to tell them about her ex-husband and what he’d done. It wasn’t relevant to this discussion.
“I wasn’t born into a family with money.” That was an understatement. “I had to sacrifice all through school in order to save enough to start the firm.”
Tannin’s expression grew curious as he took a seat on the edge of the bed. He likely had assumed she was wealthy because of that ridiculous wallet. “Your family didn’t help?”
“They couldn’t afford to help. I thought I hit the jackpot when I signed Timmy Bowling and Jennifer Wise-Minnick as clients. In case you don’t know who they are, Timmy Bowling is a tele-evangelist with a net worth of three billion dollars. Jennifer Wise-Minnick founded Comfort First, and last year took in four billion.”
At the mention of Comfort First, Tannin’s eyes narrowed. What was that about?
“Why did they sign with you, then?” he asked quietly. There was a sharp mind in there somewhere. Right behind the ink and muscles.
“Good question. I should have asked it. These days, I would ask it, but at the time, I didn’t give a shit. I was happy to have them. Both gave me plausible excuses, having to do with running out of steam with their prior firms. It happens.”
“So, you’re doing okay financially now.” Tannin’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
“I was, until today.”
The creepy dude opened his mouth to speak, but Tannin cut him off. “How were things with the two clients?”
“Horrible. They interfered with my staff, they showed up when they felt like it, used extra offices, set up meetings in my conference rooms, and basically insisted on telling me how to run my company.”
“Why didn’t you kick them to the curb?”
“Income. I had none without them. I signed a handful of other clients who, combined, barely take in a million a year. Without those two, I had no marketing company, and they knew it.”
“Sounds like you got a raw deal,” said the third man. “So, what happened today?”
“It really began six months ago. My administrative assistant overheard a conversation between Jennifer and Timmy. They didn’t know Tiffany was working late and were in a conference room, on the phone. They’d been in there all day. The phone was on speaker, and Tiff stayed hidden to listen because the first thing she heard Timmy say was that they finally had Wade on board.”
“Wade who?” asked Tannin.
“Wade Kramer, the CEO of Dreaming Tiny. It’s one of those small house companies, and I had just signed them on. Tiff thought that was an odd comment for one client to make about another, so she eavesdropped.”
“Why would two people like Timmy Bowling and Jennifer Wise-Minnick take a chance on being overheard?”
“It was after hours. They had been around often enough by then to know our usual routines. Like I said, they had no reason to suspect Tiff was still in the suite. She usually went home before four to beat the traffic. But that day, her husband was picking her up because their kids were on a field trip overnight. He was taking her out to dinner.”
“What else did Tiff hear?” asked Tannin.
“They kept talking about Wade as if he was in some secret club with them. Of course, the whole thing creeped me out and made me suspicious, so I began to dig into his background a bit. Then I dug into Timmy’s and Jennifer’s, too.”
“What did you find?” asked the third man.
“A lot of dummy companies and FBI files on all three of them.”
The men gave each other sideways glances. Either they were very good actors, or she’d been wrong. Vito didn’t run this place. But they obviously had some knowledge of how the Mob operated, so who did they know? Was it someone who worked with Vito? They weren’t asking her enough questions, as if they understood where this was going.
“I took my concerns to the FBI, and they waved me away. Said every US citizen has an FBI file, and hiding money in dummy companies was legal under certain circumstances.”
Tannin snorted. “Yeah. It is. And believe me, large corporations are fucking geniuses at it.”
How did he know that? Coupled with the Gucci wallet comment earlier, Rai suspected there was way more to Tannin than that leather vest and those muscles. “So, I kept my eyes and ears open, and so did Tiff. I moved a file to my personal laptop, where I kept track of everything I found on those three.”
“Do you still have it?” Tannin’s voice was tinged with fear.
“The file or my laptop?”
“Both.”
“Yes.” If these three asked to look at her computer, she’d need to make a run for it.
“Go on. What happened next?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to insist they give her information on who they worked for, in exchange for all she’d told them, but the cold, hard look in creepy dude’s dark eyes stopped her. “Three weeks ago, I met Vito Cinquepalmi. He came into the suite, and basically stormed into my office, demanding I clear my afternoon so I could talk to him.” Rai took a seat on the edge of the sofa.
“Did you know who he was?” asked Tannin, his eyes narrowed again.
“By then, yes. And let me tell you, I was shitting bricks. It felt like part of a horror movie where the stupid teenage girl runs into the basement to investigate where the strange noises are coming from. But my hands were tied. I’d already talked to my attorneys, and we were getting ready to approach the FBI again, this time with the file I had.”
“Do you think Vito knew that?” asked creepy dude.
“If he did, I have no clue how. Tiff didn’t even know about it.”
“What about one of your attorneys?” asked the third man. “Could they have tipped off Vito?”
She shook her head. “No. Not a chance. We’re talking Harvard Law, well-known and well-respected corporate firm.”
Tannin grunted. “That doesn’t mean shit, lady. But go on. What did Vito want?”
“He wanted a partnership with my firm. He laid it all out for me. I had been targeted. I had been used, because of my naiveté, my inexperience, and my hunger for wealthy clients. As soon as he had Timmy on board, and Timmy told him how talented I was, and let Vito know how much money I was making him with my campaign ideas, they enticed Jennifer to join the club.”
“How the fuck did you not know any of this was going on?”
“How would I have known, Tannin? Do you think they hang out signs? I feel foolish enough, okay? I was merely doing my job. My team came up with campaigns, Timmy and Jennifer loved them. The campaigns worked for those two. Timmy and Jennifer made more money, and in turn so did I. If they were both pains in the ass, I had to swallow it and bide my time. I figured once my reputation grew, so would my client base, and one day I could tell those two to take a hike.”
“But that’s not what happened.” The creepy dude’s voice was soft this time. “You said Vito asked you to become his partner.”
“Yes, except it wasn’t a question. It was more along the lines of him telling me this is what I’d be doing from now on. He told me I’d be a billionaire in a few years. All I had to do was hire the people they told me to hire. Simple. Easy. Oh, and of course they’d bring in their own team of attorneys. I was told to let mine go. Quietly, of course.”
“What happened when you told Vito ‘no’?” asked the third man.
“What makes you think I did that? I freaked out. I told him to give me twenty-four hours because it was overwhelming. He agreed. And then I went back to the FBI. They finally took me seriously and said they’d start an investigation. They told me to go along with everything and keep my head down. Right. Like that was so fucking easy.”
“Vito found out,” said Tannin. “That’s why he ordered the hit.”
“Yeah. I don’t know how he found out I went to the FBI, but I can’t think of any other reason he’d want me out of the way.”
“It could be for any number of reasons,” said the third man.
Tannin shot him a warning look, but Rai had no idea why. “How did you discover there was a price on your head?” he asked.
“Jennifer was on a phone call in one of the conference rooms earlier today. I had meetings in Solon and Mentor scheduled, but both prospective clients had to cancel, so I returned to the office. On Fridays, most of my staff work from home or try to take the day off, so I imagine no one expected me to be there.”
“She didn’t see you?”
Rai shook her head. “No. I heard Jennifer say I have a price on my head, and Vito is all set to take over the company once I’m out of the way.”
“You’re sure that’s what you heard?” asked the third man, his voice sharp.
She gave him a long glance, wishing there was a way to tell from simply looking at a person who they knew. “I will never forget what I heard.”
“Do they know you’ve fled?” asked the creepy dude.
“I imagine they do by now. I’m sure they were looking for me at the meetings, and when I didn’t show…” Rai paused. All of this was speculation, and she still wasn’t entirely sure what or who these three men knew. “I don’t know what they thought or did. All I can tell you is that I went into my office, grabbed everything I had in paper form as quickly as possible, grabbed my work laptop, and then left by a side door.”
“Did you make any calls?” asked Tannin.
“Only to the FBI agent, but that was on my cell. Then I went to the bank and emptied one of my smaller accounts. I couldn’t empty the largest one. They’d never have given me that much cash at once.”
“How many accounts do you have?”
“I’d rather not say, if you don’t mind. After I went to the bank, I returned to my apartment, and threw as many clothes and personal items into these bags as I could. Then I got into my car and drove.”
“Sounds like you had a plan.”
Rai narrowed her eyes at the creepy dude. She’d had enough of this interrogation. “If I’d had a plan, I wouldn’t have ended up here. I would have called…” Oh fuck. No! Oh goddamn it all to hell and back.
She reached into the bag and pulled out her phone. “These fucking things are traceable, aren’t they?”
The men glanced at each other. The third one spoke first. “Ah, I think you have to be law enforcement, or have an app—”
“And you think the Mob doesn’t have that? Shit. Fuck!” Rai turned off the phone, but it hardly mattered now. The damn signal had been on all day. There was no way Vito didn’t know exactly where she was right now.