“Where to?” Kyle asked. He always drove.
“Home,” David said, and he glanced to Cherry to see if she would argue, but she stayed quiet, her face one of shock and terror. She knew how close she had just come to dying. The question, to David at least, was why? He wasn’t sure she was ready to talk about it, so he was content to stay quiet, as was she. They drove to his apartment, the penthouse of a tall building smack dab in the middle of downtown Chicago. They pulled into the private parking garage, Kyle using a keypad before a large gate to punch in a code and open it. Kyle and Mark walked ahead after getting out of the car, and David took Cherry by the arm gently and led her to an elevator.
They got in, Mark slid a keycard into a small slot, and the elevator shot up to the top floor. When the doors opened, they were faced with another door, which Mark unlocked and pushed open. David’s two men went inside and searched the place, something they did every time David came home. David and Cherry waited for them to return.
“All clear,” Mark said, and David nodded. His two most trusted men then stayed outside the front door but didn’t enter the elevator quite yet. They would be at the front door until six in the morning, when two new men would come relieve them, allowing them to go to their own apartments, in the same building but on lower floors, so they could get some sleep. David shut the door after wishing them good night, even though he knew it would be a few hours before they went to bed.
“I’ve never gone home with a man who has bodyguards,” Cherry said, and she tried to smile. David laughed.
“I have to. I have a chef, a personal trainer, a lot of employees, really. Those two were both my friends long before they became my bodyguards.”
Cherry nodded. She walked into the living room. The whole apartment was a huge open space, except for a bathroom and a bedroom, which were walled off behind closed doors. She sat on the couch and took her heels off. David stood before her.
“What happened?” he asked.
“My fucking boss went crazy,” Cherry said. “It looked like he was going to kill me.”
“Why?”
She shrugged and looked up at David.
“I don’t know.”
“Did you hear something? See something?”
Cherry sighed and rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. “I saw…he had this folder, with pictures of women. He said they were from Russia and that he might buy one himself. It looked like…”
David nodded. He knew exactly what it had looked like. “That would explain it.”
Cherry shook her head. “I knew Nathan was a scumbag, but I never knew…I thought maybe he had gotten into drug stuff, but this…”
David nodded. “It’s big,” he said. “And he’s going up against Rubio.”
Cherry didn’t understand. “Who’s Rubio?”
“If you want Russian brides, you go to Rubio. Not my sort of thing, to be honest. I don’t do the whole slavery thing.”
“Honor among thieves, huh?” Cherry cracked, though she didn’t smile.
“Something like that,” David said grimly. “But if Nathan has something going, he’s at the beginning of it. He doesn’t want word getting out, and that’s why he was willing to kill you. If this spills too early, Rubio is going to kill him. He has to build up the business, show he’s capable, and maybe just cut Rubio in if he wants to keep on living.”
“So what now?” Cherry asked.
“He’s going to come looking for you, and I’ll talk to him.”
Cherry had opened her mouth to speak again, but David’s cell phone rang in his pocket, and she closed her mouth. She sat and watched as the man answered his phone.
“Hello?” he said. It was Nathan.
“Give me the girl,” he said.
“Your balls are getting big, Nathan,” David said.
“Don’t turn this into something. She needs to be dealt with.”
“She didn’t see anything,” David said, lying. “She doesn’t know what’s happening.”
“She didn’t see anything? Why did she run?”
“She saw you pulling a gun on her.”
Nathan laughed. “So I guess you know now too, huh? That’s too bad.”
“Are you threatening me?” David asked. “Do you remember who I am? Do you remember who you are? You’re nothing, kid. Just back off, back down, and go back to running clubs.”
“I’m better than that. You idiots don’t know what the fuck I’ve been doing for months. A year! I’m more powerful than you’d ever guess. You won’t know until it’s too late.”
David furrowed his brow. “Fuck off, Nathan,” he said, and then he hung up.
“So it’s all settled then?” Cherry asked. She smiled, clearly joking.
“I don’t know who this kid thinks he is,” David said. “I’ll deal with him tomorrow. You tired?”
Cherry nodded, yawning suddenly. “I could sleep,” she said with a little laugh.