No matter how betrayed I feel right now, the urge to protect him has engrained itself in me, and as soon as Yanni turns his back to me, I drop down on the other side of the club door.

“Oy, Kandi? Quit messing around.”

He takes another shoe-scraping step against the cement, and once he’s clear of the door, I kick it closed with a shuddering bang and lift Judy to point right at him.

Yanni swings around, and surprise lights up his eyes. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Just call me Kandi.”

The surprise gives way to anger and maybe even confusion, but it’s hard to say in this dingy courtyard. “What the fuck is this? Did someone hire you? I’ve done nothing.”

There’s a lot to pick at there, so I ignore him instead. “We have a mutual friend.”

He sneers, and for a man who runs drugs through his club, he’s not bad-looking. He’s no St. Clare, and I’m not attracted to him, but all the photos of him with pretty girls wrapped around him make sense.

“Let me guess who,” he says, voice a rumble that sounds like he’s forcing it. “Kandi?”

“No. St. Clare.”

The surprise is back. “What the fuck do they want?”

“That’s what we were hoping you’d tell us. Why do you want him dead?”

“Dead?” Yanni lets out a chest-bouncing chuckle. “Not surprised someone wants that.”

“Not someone. You.” But he keeps on laughing, and I’m getting the feeling that maybe maybe I’ve missed the mark. “Ah … right?”

He shakes his head, not looking at all scared to have Judy in his face. “Nah, not me.”

“You’re lying.” I say it even though my conviction has gotten shaky. The thing is, I’d been preparing for this rough and tough villain monologue, not him reaching into his pocket to pull out a joint. He pinches it between his lips before lighting it, taking a deep draw, and holding it out to me.

“Want a hit?”

“No?” Though I’m not convinced I didn’t already have a hit and am hallucinating this whole thing. “You realize I’m threatening you right now?”

“Sure.” He shrugs and smokes more of the joint. “So what’s the threat?”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, a threat usually has a ‘do this or else.’ I assume the ‘or else’ is killing me, but what exactly am I supposed to be doing to avoid that?”

It’s only just occurring to me that instead of creating an elaborate catfishing plan and moping over the way my heart hurts, I probably should have nailed down an ironclad plan of attack when I faced him.

But I have him here, so what the hell do I want to know?

“Where’s Colin?”

“Colin?” Interest finally catches him, and I can’t place that look in his eyes. “Lost him, have you?”

“Not lost. He’s missing.”