Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sophia come out from around the counter. The dwarf held a metal spoon in her hand. With her strength, it might as well have been a baseball bat. Sophia would back me up just like she had the other night. That’s what family did.

Jonah McAllister saw her too and realized the odds had slipped to four on two. He looked through the storefront windows. People moved back and forth on the street outside, going out to lunch and back to work. More than one glanced inside the Pork Pit as they passed. A few slowed down long enough to get a good long gawk.

I could see the wheels turning in the lawyer’s mind, as he considered the benefits of ordering his giant bodyguards to kill us now versus the possibility of folks witnessing it and more people potentially causing problems for him. His boss, Mab Monroe, might run Ashland, but I imagined she liked her flunkies to take care of their own business without involving her or being implicated in something unseemly themselves.

Jake threw aside a glop of coleslaw and scrambled to his feet. But before the Fire elemental could charge me again, Jonah McAllister shook his head. One of the giants stepped forward and put a restraining hand on Jake’s shoulder, holding him in place. His neck almost snapped from the abrupt stop. The skin around his eyes was red and irritated from the spicy food, but it didn’t compare to the sparks of hot magic that flickered in his hate-filled gaze.

“C’mon, Dad,” Jake said, looking around the giant’s arm and pleading with his father. “Let’s do the bitch. She’s not going to play ball with us.”

Jonah McAllister looked at his son, then at me. He got to his feet and buttoned his suit jacket. “What have I told you about ruining people, Jake?”

“That it’s more fun to do it slowly,” Jake muttered.

Jonah nodded. “That’s right. We’ll see how Ms. Blanco feels in a few more days when she hasn’t gotten any customers, and she has bills to pay. Until then, Ms. Blanco.”

So Jonah McAllister had decided to stick to his specialty—squeezing people through somewhat legal means.

“Until then, Mr. McAllister.” My eyes cut to Jake. “Just because you’ve gotten your daddy involved doesn’t negate my threat. You come near me or my restaurant again, and I’ll break more than just your wrist. You understand me?”

Jake surged against the giant. “You’re dead, bitch! Dead! Do you hear me? Do you hear me? Dead!”

Jonah gave his son a disgusted look and swept out of the Pork Pit. The giants flanked the still-struggling Jake, picked him up by his arms, and hauled him outside.