CHAPTER 1
"Please, you've got to give me just a little more time!" Alice Henderson pleaded. "The restaurant is almost finished!" Her upscale restaurant, Corfu--named after the Greek island--promised to be the culmination of her dream and all of Alice's energy and attention was focused on it.
"You agreed to the terms when you borrowed the money," Tony 'The Cantaloupe' Callebreeze told her. He was named for his rotund shape. "No one forced you to take it."
"I know! But there've been some delays. It couldn't be helped. The subcontractor?" she stopped. She knew Tony didn't want to hear about her problems. "The restaurant should open in a month, then I'll be able to pay you back, I promise!"
Normally, this is where the Mafia capo would zero in on the business; get the mark to agree to sign over a portion in exchange for an extension on the loan. Later, of course, they would muscle their way in to own it outright.
But Tony already had four restaurants, two dry cleaners and a bodega. Even for a man who loved to eat like Tony did, he was ass deep in restaurants. And they were all within a 16-block area of his neighborhood in Queens, so he was even starting to compete with himself for business--and workers. No, he really didn't want another restaurant.
He thought about his next step while he looked at Alice Henderson. She was a good-looking woman, he had to admit. Tall, blonde, self-assured--she was the kind of woman who had men at her beck and call all her life. A woman who thought she could do no wrong. A woman like that Tony wouldn't mind seeing taken down a peg or two.
"Twenty-five large is a lot of fuckin' money, Alice. I have expenses myself. I can't just roll that over. It's spoken for already." Of course, that wasn't true. He just wanted her to squirm.
"Look, the money's tied up right now. I used all I had and borrowed more, as you well know. Just give me thirty days to get Corfu open. Afterwards, I can get another loan at the bank to pay you off."
Tony shook his head. "No can do, Ms. H." He waited.
She became angry. "I'm fully aware of how you operate. Now come the threats. Just remember: If you break my legs, you won't get any of your money back."
He shrugged. "I'm a businessman, Alice. That stuff went out with Al Capone." Tony wasn't above such actions--just not with a beautiful woman. The Italians were quite gallant where it came to women. "Even if the loan was extended, you'd owe me thirty-five grand in a month," he said.
"Thirty-five grand! That's outrageous! We had a deal!"
"Yes, we did. And you fuckin' broke it."
Alice realized he was right. He had her over a barrel. As it was, she had borrowed fifteen thousand from him to cover some last-minute expenses, expecting to pay back twenty when the restaurant opened.
Now, with the usury rates Tony was charging, she owed twenty-five thousand--and the opening was still a few weeks off. There was no way she could pay another ten G's on top of that when it finally did open.
Alice felt her world was spinning out of control. Her heart beat wildly, trying to think a way out of this mess. She stared at the fat man.
"So here's where you make me an offer I can't refuse, right?" she said bitterly. "I sign over a portion of my business to you and then I have to hire the people you say and maybe use the place to launder your dirty drug money, right?"
"Actually, I was thinking of something else you could do to pay back the money." He gazed at her, eyes expressionless, then raised one eyebrow.
She colored, then stood abruptly. "This conversation is over. I'm leaving." She turned toward the door.
Tony nodded over her shoulder to Paulo, his bodyguard. His large bulk blocked the door. "If you leave now, Alice, I'll have to get my money from another source ... say, your mother? I hear she's got some. She's at Valley View, isn't she?"
Alice froze, then whirled on him, eyes ablaze. "You bastard! You keep her out of this! She needs what she's got to pay her expenses for her care there--you must know that."
She was horrified that he knew so much about her invalid mother. She was also embarrassed to admit that she had already borrowed ten thousand dollars from her mother herself.
"You leave me no choice, Alice. I'm going to collect, one way or another."
She stared at him, wishing she could make him just disappear. Then, defeated, she sat down again. "Just what are you proposing? That I fuck you for twenty-five grand?"
"Oh, dear me, no! You may be high-priced, but no fuckin' whore is worth that to me!" The term stung her. "However, I may be able to find a few rich benefactors who might be persuaded."
"Wh--what do you mean?"
"If I can find some guys willing to pay, let's say, five large each for a night of passion, I would consider the loan square."
Alice couldn't believe what she was hearing. "There's no way?"
Tony thumped his meaty fingers on the edge of the table. "Here's the way it's gonna be--or we go visit your fuckin' mother. You go where we tell you and do as we say whenever we call between now and whenever your precious restaurant opens. You pay back your loan on your back."
Alice was horrified. There was no way she would fuck that many men in exchange for her loan. Still, she had to be realistic. He had her at a disadvantage, but if she played her cards right, she might be able to negotiate her way out of this mess. Alice had always considered herself a shrewd negotiator.
She had to think about her future. After all, she was 34--no spring chicken any more, and she'd never been married. And sex? She had a healthy appetite. She wasn't afraid to use her body to get what she wanted on occasion. Especially with a wealthy man. She had to admit she often put out on the first date, just because she wanted him to stick around. Not that they ever did.
She returned Tony's steady gaze. "One date. No more."
"You think you're worth twenty-five large for one fuckin' night? No way."
"Take it or leave it. Otherwise, I walk and let you foreclose on the damn restaurant. And my mother doesn't have that kind of money anyway, so bugging her won't help you."
She stared at him, trying to impress him with her determination. "If you press me on this, I'll go to the police and raise a stink."
Tony pursed his lips, then said. "You'd have to do everything this guy tells you to do--including fuckin' some friends of his."
Alice shook her head. She'd been ready for that trap. "No. The guy only. I'm not sitting still for a daisy chain."
"Look, it's gonna be hard enough finding a guy like this. You make it impossible, we can't make a deal. How about five friends?"
"One extra friend. No more."
Tony sighed. "Two men--and one woman."
That took Alice by surprise. "He'd want me to, um, make love to a woman?"
"I don't know. I gotta keep his options open, ya know?"
Alice had had only one lesbian encounter, back in college. It had been quite pleasant, she recalled. Maureen. A slender, sexy and accomplished lover. Alice might have pursued it further it Dan hadn't come into her life shortly thereafter. Maureen found someone else and Alice still remembered the odd sense of loss she felt.
She nodded. "Two extra men, and maybe one woman."
"Whatever they wanna do, right? The four of them?"
"Well, nothing permanent. I'm not getting a tattoo or a piercing, if that's what you mean."
"No, no--nothing like that. I just don't want you freezing up in the middle of the fuckin' evening, just 'cause he asks you to blow him or something."
She colored slightly. "No. I won't." She couldn't believe she was negotiating her whoredom.
Tony started to nod, then stopped. "One night--that's ten-twelve hours, right?"
"No," she responded at once. "Three hours--eight to eleven."
"No way. Six hours--seven to one."
"Five hours--seven to midnight."
Tony looked at her for a long minute, then slowly nodded. "You're breaking my fuckin' balls, lady, but it's a deal." He shook her hand as if they were closing a simple business arrangement, not setting Alice up to be his prostitute for a night. "We've got your number. Be ready to go Saturday."
She was a bit startled at that--how could he arrange something so quickly? But she could only nod. Alice left, her stomach churning.
Paulo came over after the door slammed behind her and sat down across from Tony. "I don't get it, boss. Where ya gonna find some sucker to drop twenty-five large on a fuckin' dame? Mosta the guys wese know in da neighborhood wouldn't spend two-three thousan' bucks ona dame, even one as hot as her."
"Never fear, Paulo. That's why I'm capo and you're the muscle. Here's what we're gonna do..."
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