Nash stepped forward, weapons still trained on him. “Tell her what she wants to know,” he growled in a guttural way that had all the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.
Whatever Jones saw on Nash’s face was enough. “Fine. They put my operation at risk anyway, so they deserve this.” He cleared his throat. “I know Noah from way back. I agreed to let him use my warehouse to store some of their belongings so they could lie low.”
“In exchange for?” Ivy asked.
He flicked a glance between the three of them. Genesis still had her arms crossed over her chest as she stared him down. Jones started to respond, then there was some kind of commotion happening in the warehouse below. Ivy and Nash both tensed, but Genesis simply shook her head. “It’s Bruno. I told him to expect a bunch of tied-up guys when he got here. He is beyond pissed.” The look she gave Jones promised retribution from Bruno.
That wasn’t Ivy’s business, however. She didn’t care what went down with them. She wanted answers.
“I wasn’t going to hurt you,” Jones said to Genesis, practically begging. “I never would have. I just needed to talk to her.” He jerked his chin at Ivy.
“Kind of hard to believe you when you busted in here with armed guards after I invited you in. I know there’s no code of honor among thieves but I expected more from you. Clearly I was mistaken, but I won’t make that mistake again. You can be damn sure I’m going to tell everyone we know what you did too. You could have just asked me to contact Ivy and I would have. This really could have been handled civilly.”
His face paled slightly and he shifted in the seat again, clearly off-balance and afraid. Good. Fear was very good right now. It was just making sure he didn’t start spilling lies.
“I just need my dolls back,” he said, looking at Ivy now. “If I don’t get them, I’m dead.” When she just stared at him, he continued. “Fine. The Green brothers aren’t at my warehouse anymore. Which you obviously know. They’re lying low in a condo, but plan to head to a boutique hotel downtown.” He rattled off the name, one she knew. “It’s where they’re going to set up the auction. Noah knows one of the owners and has everything arranged. He’s going to give the guy a cut of the profits. It’s a neutral meeting ground to not only sell it, but also hand it over. It gives him a layer of protection from law enforcement. Or that’s what he seems to think. I don’t care what happens to him. He screwed me over. He swore they would guard my warehouse while I was out of town. Instead, his younger brother fucked it all up, and if I hadn’t installed extra interior cameras, I never would’ve seen you two breaking in.” His gaze narrowed on her and Nash.
“When are they moving to the hotel?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I swear. I just know it’s going to be soon. The auction is scheduled for a few days from now. They moved up their timeline.”
That lined up with what Ivy knew, so maybe he was telling the truth. “Tell me about the girl. Who is she?” Ivy’s contact hadn’t been able to get much from the woman’s fingerprints. Just her name and the fact that she’d fallen off the grid in America and moved to Europe years ago.
“I don’t know much about her. Just that Luka is obsessed with her. Like wants to put a ring on it kind of obsessed.” Jones made a scoffing sound. “If my tastes ran that way, I would say she’s attractive enough, but she’s got a mean bent to her. I can see it in her eyes. There’s a lot of anger in that one right beneath the surface. She even convinced him to sell a few pieces behind his brothers’ backs. Noah knows though. They’re not that slick.”
That was interesting. “What else?” she demanded. Next to Ivy, Nash was an immovable force.
“That’s it. He’s obsessed with her and brought her into the crew without asking his brothers. So they had a choice to make. Kill the girl and upset their brother—possibly have Luka try to kill them. Or allow her to join their crew.”
“She’s part of their crew now?”
He shook his head. “No. I think they’re biding their time before they can ditch her. Or make her death look like an accident. I don’t know. Noah and I go way back but we’re not exactly friends. Still, I owed him a favor and…” He glanced at Genesis before looking back at Ivy. “I needed someone to keep an eye on my warehouse and couldn’t afford my normal security.”
That lined up with how broke and desperate he seemed to be.
“Could you get them to meet with you? Offer to buy the painting?” It was worth asking.
“What, like set them up? No. I wouldn’t do that regardless. Also, they know I don’t have the money.” He shifted in his seat again, sweat pouring off him so much that the top of his shirt was soaked through. “I owe Krychek.”
Genesis swore softly. “I heard you had some bad debts, but didn’t realize it was to him,” she murmured as Bruno stomped into the room. She held up a hand when Bruno took a menacing step at Jones. He stilled, the big man with the fighter stance looking as if he wanted to rip Jones’s head off. His dark hair was buzzed as usual, his fists covered in scars, and the all-black ensemble only added to his menacing appearance.
“I took out the trash,” was all he said to Genesis but he remained where he was, right by her side.
“Look, I’ve told you everything I know about them. Now give me what I want.”
Ivy stepped over to Genesis and whispered in her ear, telling her where the drugs and diamonds were hidden. Then Genesis looked at Bruno and murmured something to him.
He hurried out to retrieve the bag Ivy had hidden.
She turned back toward the terrified man. “You’ll get what you came for in a few minutes. Are you going to tell the Green brothers what happened here?”
Jones snorted. “Tell them I narced on them? No. I just need my stash and then I’m splitting town. It’s enough to help me start over again.”
“If you run, you’ll make it worse on yourself,” Genesis said. “So you’ve got some debts. Sell off what you’ve got in the warehouse and pay Krychek back.”
“I don’t have enough to pay off what I owe to Krychek,” he whispered to Genesis, real fear bleeding into his eyes then. “And I’m out of time anyway. It would take me forever to sell off all my stuff. I just need to get out of town. This is the only way I’ll have a chance.”
Genesis was silent as she pulled out a knife.
Alarm jumped inside Ivy until Genesis cut his bindings. “I know a guy who can help you get up to Montana. I’m not going to give you any money, but I will give you that. From there he’ll help you cross the border into Canada where you’ll be on your own.”
Ivy was surprised Genesis was being so generous but didn’t say anything. As Bruno stepped back inside, he silently handed the bag to Ivy.
She peered inside and pulled out the cheap dolls. Before she handed it to him, she said, “How did you know who I was? Find where I was staying? Do the Green brothers know about me or him?” She motioned to Nash.
“I have no idea who he is. I figured this was about the painting so I did some digging and found out who the insurance company hired to track it down. After looking at some of your pictures and comparing the body type to the woman on the video—you—it was easy enough to figure out who you were and where you were staying. And hell no, I didn’t tell them about you. You’d be dead if I had. I also didn’t tell them what you did to Luka’s phone,” he added, looking at Nash. “I just want my shit. I don’t care about them.”