The Heist Read Online Free PDF

Please!”
     
    ***
     
    “There she is!” Cosmo grinned as Michelle pushed open the door to the diner. Jody and Corrine were on duty, helping him close up for the night. They were both clearing away the last traces of customers when she entered. Cosmo, a balding Italian man with a round belly, chubby face, and a big heart, sat in a booth counting out the money from the drawer.
    Michelle turned over the “closed” sign, released the lock, and engaged it. How many times had she warned him to lock the door? Two stores on this block had been hit with nighttime robberies. Cosmo was old school. He felt his long-term presence in the community provided him some protective cover. Michelle knew better. The community had changed. These young thugs lived by no code and respected no one. They would shoot their own mother if she stood in the way of a shiny watch or new pair of sneakers.
    “Hi, Cosmo.”
    “Come, sit with me…help me make sense of this.”
    She walked over, removing her coat, her heart still heavy and her mind reeling. Lee wanted a job done in less than a week, one that his enemies took years to plan. The ticking clock was the noose around Sasha’s neck. Picking up the credit card receipts, she began to tally. Cosmo’s gaze lifted at her in silence. “Something wrong?”
    Michelle chewed on her bottom lip but held her tongue. His hand covered hers, and she finally met his concerned stare. “What is it?”
    “Sasha.” She pulled her hands free and rubbed the ball of her palms into her weary eyes. “She’s been taken.”
    “Taken?”
    “Kidnapped. She’s been kidnapped.”
    “What!” Cosmo roared. Michelle immediately regretted telling him. But she was so desperate and worried. “If it were my own life, Cosmo, I could handle it. But I swore to Pops I’d protect her. I can’t believe this is happening.”
    “So it’s from Pops’ life, those gangsters he stole for? They’ve come after you?”
    “More like Sasha went to them. She’s been gambling. Like Pops. Gambling and now she’s in deep.”
    Cosmo rubbed his fat unshaved jaw. “Michelle, I got some cash.”
    “No, you don’t have this kind of cash. Besides, he doesn’t want payment that way. He wants me .”
    “He can’t have you!” Cosmo slammed his meaty fist down on the dinner table. “You listen to me, you have options. Pops chose that life, but you made a different choice. Three years ago, you enrolled in school. You’ve done good, real good. We’re waiting to hear on medical school, right? No, not this. I made my own promises to Pops when you walked away from it. We’re calling the cops.”
    “No, no.” She grabbed Cosmo’s wrists. “No, don’t. These men will kill her.”
    “They may kill her anyway.”
    Michelle drew back as the words she had refused to consider birthed a new fear. Sasha’s life hung in the balance, no matter what she chose to do.
     
    ***
     
    The door opened and her head shot up. The room was dark. She’d been asleep but didn’t know for how long. A flashlight beam shone on her. Squinting in the light, she listened as someone approached. There had to be what, two or three of them? “Who is it?”
    “Hello, princess,” a familiar voice coaxed.
    “Lee?”
    The visitor stepped in front of the beam. A tall, darkly clad figure. Then he lowered himself to eye level. The light fell over him from behind, giving faint definition to his handsome features.
    “You asshole!” she spat out.
    Lee smirked. “How’s my princess doing today?”
    “How? I’m chained up, you jerk! This was never part of our deal.”
    “Our deal was you’d be kidnapped and Chocolat would come to the rescue. It was your idea.”
    “Not for real!” she squealed.
    Lee’s voice hardened. “In this world, little girl, everything is real.”
    Sasha drew back. “I wasn’t a little girl when you had your dick in my mouth!”
    Lee rose. Towering over her, he offered some relief from the relentless beam of light. She no longer