Chapter 17 – Elie
“I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but you have to come into work. I give you a couple of days off and now you’re asking for another one? You’re going to have to give me a better reason than you don’t feel like coming in. That’s not going to cut it, Mariah.”
“Elie, I can’t.”
“Why, what’s going on?” There was a tone in her voice that made the hairs on the back of my neck stick up. Something was wrong, and I had to get to the bottom of it, one way or another. I had big plans for Mariah, and I couldn’t go through with them until I got her in the club to talk about it. I knew that once she heard what my plans were she would be willing to do what was necessary to benefit both of us, but I had to get her there first.
“It’s not really anything that I can talk about over the phone. I just don’t know how much longer I’m going to be in the city.”
“What do you mean? What happened?”
My mind was racing with possibilities, and I was half-tempted to send Bruno over there to make sure that she didn’t leave. I was not above holding on to her until she started to see things my way.
“Just someone that I used to know popped back into my life, and he’s making a lot of threats. If I don’t go, I don’t know what he’ll do to me.”
“You think he’s going to hurt you?”
She snorted like the thought was preposterous, but I couldn’t understand what was bothering her so much. If he wasn’t going to hurt her, then what did he have to threaten her with?
“No, it’s not like that. I just… I don’t know, Elie. I have to figure this out and then I can come back in. I know that I might not have a job then, but I’ll still see.”
“That’s not going to work, Mariah. You need to go ahead and tell me what’s going on. I’ll come there if you want. You’re at Sasha’s, right?”
She told me that it was fine, but I was more than willing to go see what was going on with her. I needed to convince her that the last thing she needed to do was run off. Whoever it was, they could be taken care or, just like the problem that she thought she had. Maybe this was my moment to find my way in.
“No, it’s fine.”
“If you’re not coming in to work, it’s not fine. Tell me what’s going on or I’ll be over in a few minutes. We need to work this out and get you back on the books. I have too many people that want to see you, Mariah. What’s causing you all of this trouble?”
“It’s my ex.”
“Well, that’s no big deal. Does he know where you work now?”
“Yes, but I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
“Well, if he’s just an ex and he finds out you work for me, I’m sure he’ll leave you alone.”
“Greg’s from Michigan, and he’s a cop.”
That was a little more complicated. A cop couldn’t just disappear like most other people could. His brother officers, especially his partner, would never stop looking for him. I was going to have to be smart on this one.
“So what’s he blackmailing you with?”
“I did something a long time ago and Greg knows about it. He could tell on me and I’d go to jail. That’s what he’s holding over my head. My hands are tied and he knows it. There’s nothing that I can do.”
“Mariah, there’s always something that can be done. This situation is no different.”
I wanted to ask her what she’d done, but I decided that I didn’t need to know. It really didn’t matter what she had in her past. I didn’t care. I didn’t like the idea of dealing with a cop, but he was a long way from his jurisdiction, and I could send a message that wouldn’t cause half of the police force to look into it. I was already planning what I was going to do next.
“You don’t understand, Elie. Greg is kind of scary.”
She didn’t know me very well, and I was glad that she still saw me as harmless. It wouldn’t be the first time that someone was so wrong about me, and I was sure that it wouldn’t be the last. I didn’t have to act scary. I had hired thugs who would get their hands dirty so I didn’t have to.
“Don’t you worry about him, Mariah. Just tell me his name and where he’s staying, and I’ll make sure to take care of it.”
“I don’t know where he’s at, Elie. That’s the thing. He just showed up last night, although I think he has been following me, because I saw him while I was out the other day. I just want to get out of town for a little while. I can’t deal with him, and he told me he was going to give me a day to think about it before he called it in. I know that he’ll do it if I’m still here when he comes back.”
“He’s going to meet you at your house?”
She told me that he was, which sounded perfect to me. I wouldn’t have to worry about chasing him down because he was going to come to me.
“You get out of there for the night and come in. Or you can come and stay with me, but I’ll make sure that someone is there tomorrow to send a message for you. You don’t have to be afraid, Mariah. I told you that I was going to take care of you, and I meant it. There’s no need for you to go anywhere.”
She didn’t sound entirely convinced, but she would after I did exactly what I promised. I was going to make sure that everything was taken care of.
“What are you going to do to him?”
“I don’t think we need to talk about all of that.”
There was a pause on the other end. I’d forgotten how delicate she was. Even after being at the club for over a month, she didn’t have the hardness that many of the other girls had or developed. Mariah was just so fragile, and I think that was why I felt so protective over her. It was one of the reasons that I wanted to help. That, and to get on her good side so that she’d agree to what I wanted her to do.
“I don’t want him to be hurt, Elie. Greg helped me out when I needed him most, and I don’t want to see him hurt.”
That was exactly what I was going to do. It was the only way to really send a message, and even though he was a cop, I was more worried about Mariah leaving than what would happen with that.
“I’ll do my best not to.”
“You have to promise me.”
“Mariah, you’re ready to leave the city because of this guy. I think that you need to worry more about you than him. If he’s threatening you and trying to blackmail you, it’s beyond your control what happens.”
She was quiet for a time, and I reminded her that it was all going to be okay. I knew that this guy wasn’t going to be a problem, not to me and my guys. The only thing that was going to make it hard to deal with was what he did for a living. That was the only part of the new plan that bothered me. A cop was harder to get rid of. But not impossible.
Mariah tried to get me to tell her what I was going to do, but I wouldn’t come clean with anything. She didn’t need to know the details.
“Don’t worry about any of it, Mariah. You’ve told me and now I’ll take care of it. This is what we do for each other here at the club, Mariah. We’re like a family, so we help each other out.”
“Thank you, Elie. I don’t even know what to say right now. I was sure that I was going to have to leave town, and I don’t want to start over somewhere else.”
“You won’t have to, Mariah. We’re going to take care of everything.”
Mariah thanked me again before she hung up and I was left to think about the unexpected developments. I needed Mariah to do some things for me, and now that she was going to owe me, I had the perfect idea of what going to be payback. I already had something in mind.
Sitting back in the seat, I was trying to figure out how everything had changed. Here I was worried about how I was going to maximize my profits from Mariah and the idea of it came to me. Now all I had to worry about was one man who happened to be a cop. It was a lot easier than trying to convince Mariah to give up her virginity. Once I got it taken care of with Greg, I was going to be able to use that to my advantage. The whole ‘family’ speech was going to be helpful later.
I made a few calls and rounded up a few bad men. I needed to find out where this cop was and a little bit more about him before I made my move. It was hard to do anything in New Orleans without everyone else finding out about it, but I did have a few people that I trusted with such information.
“Donnie, did I tell you the name?”
“Yeah, I got the name, Elie. Do you know where he’s staying?”
“No, I need you to find out and just hold tight until you talk to me.”
“Why?” This wasn’t the way these things usually went. I wasn’t sure why I was going to need pictures, but I had a feeling that it was going to be best to have them. I wanted Mariah to see firsthand that she was going to be okay. She may have claimed that she didn’t want violence, but she did. All women did, in their own way. They wanted to feel safe over everything else.
“This isn’t going to be like one of the normal jobs I have you do, Donnie. I need you to take it slow and send me some pictures of where he’s at when you find him. Let me know when you have and then we’ll decide what to do from there. I’m going to try to reason with the man. I just need to find an angle.”
It was the exact same thing that I’d said about Mariah. All I needed was an angle and everything was going to be okay. It was safe to say that I’d gotten the angle that I needed, so now I just had to get the other guy out of the way. What was it with this woman that made every man around her go a little crazy? I could feel it happening to me as well, and even though I realized it, it didn’t seem like I was able to stop it. I was hooked as well.