Bound by Honor novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: The Marker

Silvio's office in Red Hook sat above a loading bay, and at midnight it was full of men.

Six of them leaned on the walls, big, bored and armed under their coats.

Silvio sat behind a glass desk with his feet crossed and a small black book open in front of him.

I walked in with Dario one step behind my shoulder and my brother between us, holding a bag of ice to his eye.

"Little cousin," Silvio said, grinning. "At this hour? You'll ruin your complexion."

"My brother owes you a hundred and eighty thousand dollars," I said.

"He does."

"Show me the marker."

The grin stayed.

"Pretty girl, it's a loan. Not a library book."

"Show me, or I tell your uncle you refused a Roselli in front of six witnesses."

Silvio looked at Dario.

Dario looked back, calm, with his hands in his coat pockets.

Silvio sighed and turned the little black book around.

I read the page.

Nicola's name was at the top in Silvio's slanted writing.

Sixty thousand dollars lent in June.

Another forty in August.

A line that said "vig," and a number beside it, and another number, and then a total that was a lie.

"You charged him interest on the interest," I said.

"That's how interest works."

"Not at four percent a week. That's two hundred percent a year, and you don't even compound it correctly."

"You want to argue arithmetic?"

"I want to pay it."

Nicola made a small noise behind me.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Bound by Honor from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.