Page 2 of A Corruption Dark & Deadly

“That’s exactly my point, Bruce,” Annie said. How could her brother not see how ignorant he was being? “You bartend. You are a bartender. Even the bouncers rank higher than you do. No offense but think, for a minute. Why would Jericho want to talk to a bartender? Out of all people?”

“We actually have good ideas, Annie,” he said, somewhat defensively. His brown eyes were hard and narrowed ahead of him.

Annie felt somewhat chastised; she knew he was sensitive about his intelligence. He had the opportunity to go to college just like she did, but he didn’t like sitting in one place and learning things he didn’t care about, so he opted out. Annie, on the other hand, went to school for business and graduated with honors and a guaranteed full-time job starting at sixty grand a year. Bruce always insisted he was happy for his sister but there were moments she expected him to be bitter.

“I’m not saying you don’t,” she told him, softening the edge that had creeped up in her tone. “Look, aren’t you the least bit suspicious? A little bit?”

Bruce shook his head. “You don’t get it, Annie,” he insisted. “Just like you don’t get Jericho. I know the press makes him look out to be this crazy criminal mastermind, but the guy is actually pretty down to earth. He meets with all of his employees personally and asks for ideas and if there’s anything he can do for us. He lent me the money to bury mom and dad last year.”

“What?” Annie shrieked, throwing daggers in her gaze at her brother.

“Jeez, why are you freaking out?” he asked, giving her a look.

Annie scrunched her face up, dropping her mouth in a decidedly unladylike scowl, widened her eyes, and furrowed her brow. It wasn’t the most attractive look but she didn’t care one way or the other. The fact that her brother borrowed money from some criminal billionaire was enough to make her want to throttle him. How could he be so stupid? What had gone through his mind to allow such a thing to happen? While her parents had never been rich, Annie knew there had been enough to take care of two small plots side by side, two caskets, and funeral services. Bruce hadn’t needed to borrow the money.

But he did.

“I’m freaking out because you borrowed money from Jericho, Bruce,” she said, speaking as if she were talking to a simpleton. “Jericho.”

“Jericho isn’t Beetlejuice, Annie,” Bruce said, his tone flat. “You can say his name more than three times and he won’t pop up. But he’s not even a bad guy, anyway. He was the one who actually offered me – us – the money. I didn’t ask for it.”

Annie raised a doubtful brow and waited for him to elaborate.

“Okay,” Bruce said. “So what happened was he brought each employee into his office – he has his own office in every club, Annie. Honestly, the architecture of each place is really cool. Did you know he took buildings that had been around for a hundred years, preserved them, but made upgrades to it? So it’s this blend of modern and old timey, like from back in the Depression Era. How rad is that?”

Annie rolled her eyes. Her brother always went off on tangents, especially when it came to architecture. She had no idea why he didn’t just suck it up and take his general education classes in order to get to architecture and design but the guy was so impatient and also particularly lazy so college was a no-go from the start. Which was disappointing because he would have made one hell of an architect.

“Focus, Bruce,” Annie told him, her voice tight. “How the hell did Jericho offer you money?”

And why the fuck did you take it? she finished silently.

“Oh,” Bruce said. “Right. So I was in his office and he was asking if I had any ideas to make the business better, so I gave him my ideas. Then he said he heard my parents died in some DUI car crash and I said they had and that you and me were stressing out about paying for the funeral expenses.”

“You told him about me?” Annie asked. “Why would you do that? Why would you tell him about me?”

“I talk about you all the time, Annie,” Bruce said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You’re my favorite little sister.”

“I’m your only sister,” she pointed out under her breath.

“I’m telling you, Annie,” Bruce continued as though he hadn’t heard her. He probably hadn’t, in all honesty, considering he rarely picked up little things she muttered under her breath because he was so focused on whatever point he was trying to make. “He really cares about his employees. He asks about us all the time. He remembers everyone by name, even the janitors. He has like five nightclubs throughout the city and he always makes an appearance at each one throughout the week. Why do you think he was rated as the best boss of Seattle to work for?”

Annie bit the inside of her bottom lip to refrain from saying anything. She wanted to tell Bruce that he was probably collecting intel on his employees as a way to blackmail them or find any weak points he could exploit them with. But Bruce wouldn’t get it. Jericho was someone who walked on water to Bruce. Unless something happened directly to him, there was always an excuse, always a reason why he was the way he was. Bruce was loyal if he was anything, sometimes stupidly so. He was almost like a dog you couldn’t shake if you tried. It was an endearing trait, but also a dangerous one. His ignorance could get him into a lot of trouble, and Annie was worried that that had happened now.

“So you’ll stay in the car-“

“I’m not staying in the car,” she told him curtly, flashing her hazel eyes at him. “I’m going in with you.”

“Annie-“

“Look,” she said as he turned into an adjacent parking structure next to the nightclub they were heading into. “You involved me by bringing me here. You could have rescheduled dinner with me or had the meeting at a different time but you didn’t. I don’t feel comfortable sitting in the car in a city I only went to college in at night as a woman by myself. I don’t care if I need to sit in the lobby or what, but I’m not waiting for you in that car. Especially considering there’s a good chance this meeting is going to take a lot longer than a few minutes.” She pushed her brows up, daring him to argue with her.

For a moment, it appeared as though Bruce was going to say something, but then he stopped, appearing deflated. Annie shot him a smirk. She knew she would win – she always did. He pressed the button to lift the parking lever and the machine spat out a ticket that needed to either get validated or paid for. The Red Door, Bruce’s place of work, validated only after eleven thirty but employees had their own stamp in the break room. He found a parking spot close to the club, considering it was attached to the structure and it was only just after seven. The line would begin in a couple of hours; the club would open at ten thirty exactly.

After he turned off the car, Annie slid out of her seat and shut the door. She shoved her hands deep into her red pea coat and wished she opted to wear her trench coat because at least that had a hood. Bruce, on the other hand, was in a long-sleeved shirt and jeans. No jacket, nothing that appeared to keep him warm. But he didn't seem to have a problem with it. He seemed unperturbed, which amazed Annie to no end because it was fucking freezing.

"You sure you want to come in, Annie?" Bruce asked slowly, giving her a doubtful look.

Annie shot him one back but kept her mouth shut. She wasn't going to argue with Bruce here, now, where anyone could overhear them. She didn't want to air her dirty laundry knowing Jericho could be around and use it against her brother at some point. Although, to be honest, she honestly believed Bruce wasn't a big fish. Why even get involved with some bartender? Sure, Bruce borrowed a lot of money and Jericho had a right to expect it paid back. But why lend some stranger, some lowly employee, that amount of money in the first place? It made no sense.