Allegiance - Chiah Wilder Page 0,13

one of the men stepped right in front of her.

The tension in the air was palpable.

Swallowing, she gathered the frayed edges of her courage. “You—” She cleared her throat. “You gentlemen need to leave. I’ve already told you we’re closed for the night.” She did her best to make her voice sound strong and confident.

The man standing in front of her sneered. “We’re not here for food, sweet piece.” He looked at his partner, then back at Lena. “We’re here to tell you how it’s gonna be from now on. You’re gonna start paying bi-weekly dues.” His gaze slowly ran the length of her body. “And being a hot piece of ass don’t exempt you from collection.”

The man standing by the baker’s rack snorted. “But it may give you a discount if you play nice.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Taking another step back, she tried to covertly reach into her pocket for the phone. “I don’t owe anyone anything. I pay the licensing taxes and the vendors. I don’t even know you.”

The goon noticed her trying to slide her hand into her back pocket and lunged forward, pushing her until she was trapped against the back wall of the eatery, behind the display case.

“Dammit!” she cried out, her head slamming into the wall with enough force, she saw small ribbons of colored lights behind her eyelids.

“We’re here to do you a favor,” the man said. “You need protection. A pretty little thing like you” —he eased a jagged fingernail down the side of her face— “can have all sorts of bad things happen. I’m sure you don’t want that. We’re gonna be kind enough to step in and make sure you stay safe.”

The thug by the rack walked over to the display case, his grimy hands trailing along the freshly washed surface. “We’ll be real nice to you, so long as you’re nice to us. Otherwise, bad things happen to good people.”

Before she could blink, he shoved his black boot straight into the pastry case. Bits of shattered glass flew everywhere. Lena jerked backward, unable to move away with the wall at her back.

Her body went on alert, her hands recoiling in front of her in defense.

“See what can happen? That’s why you need protection, sweet cheeks.” The guy sauntered over and pressed up against her, making her skin crawl. “So make sure you treat us real good.”

The stench of perspiration, cheap cologne, and a few other unidentifiable odors made her stomach churn. All Lena wanted to do was give this jerk a swift kick to the nuts, and she knew she could pull it off. But she’d still have his friend to deal with, and something told her he was the more dangerous of the two.

“So whaddaya say, sweet cheeks?”

He was so close, she could feel his warm, rancid breath on her skin. She swallowed the bile rising up her throat as the pieces fell into place. These two thugs were trying to extort money from her. She’d heard about gangs preying on honest shopkeepers in ethnic neighborhoods in San Francisco, and she’d seen it a ton of times in gangster and crime movies, but never did she think something like that would happen to her in a small town. This is insane. But the two dangerous-looking men were real, and they wanted her hard-earned money.

“How much?” she whispered, barely able to make her lips move as the man she deemed more dangerous loomed over her, sneering, with a power trip gleaming in his eyes.

The extortionist didn’t take a single step back. Instead, he pressed forward until their foreheads were almost touching. She had to move her hands, or they would be wrapped up in his black T-shirt. She made a small noise in the back of her throat.

“Oh, you’re scared? Good—I like that.” He slapped his palms on either side of her head, boxing her into the small space even more. “You got to pay us fifteen percent of your gross every two weeks, sweet piece. I’ll be the one collecting” —he tipped his head toward his friend— “along with my buddy. You’ll be seeing us a lot. I like the” —he leaned forward until his lips were at her ear— “possibilities.”

There was nowhere for her to turn to get away, so she stiffened beneath his heavy weight and went still.

“We could have some real fun together,” he added.

Balling her hands into fists at her sides, Lena—reluctant and bold at the same time—met his gaze. “I