Library

52. Madden

52

Madden

T his is my first time in the Pussycat Lounge. I'm not a huge fan of clubs. This one has an area beyond the VIP lounge, which is closed off to everyone, apart from a select few. Kade wants to find out what goes on in there, so he's pulled in some favors and arranged for us to have access for the evening.

The guy monitoring who gets into the VIP area barely gives me a second glance other than to check my name. My hostess brings me a drink and I wait for Kade to show up.

I'm two drinks down by the time he arrives and bored out of my fucking skull. He slips into the booth next to me and signals to the hostess for a drink, which arrives a few moments later.

She tried flirting with me, but I shut her down immediately. This evening is business, not pleasure. When she does the same with Kade, he dismisses her too, and she pouts as she sashays away.

"So what are we here for exactly?" Kade was very vague when he asked me to accompany him on this jaunt.

"I want to know what goes on behind that red door. It has to be something beyond the usual off-the-books poker games if Dante is interested."

"Oh?" I've never met Alberto Valentino or his brother, but from what Kade has told me over the years, Dante and Alberto are nothing alike.

"Dante has a reputation for being into dark shit, but he's discreet about it. Alberto is aware, of course, but as long as he doesn't draw unwanted attention to the family business, he turns a blind eye."

"What kind of stuff?" I assume it's sexual. Men like Dante Valentino, with unlimited funds at their disposal and not much in the way of responsibility, often have deviant tastes.

Kade lowers his voice, even though our conversation is masked by the loud music and ambient noise. "People trafficking is one area Alberto won't touch, but Dante has been on at him for years about it. He's convinced we're making a huge mistake not getting in with the Russians and Albanians." He pauses to drain his bourbon before leaning closer to me. "I think this might be why he's cozying up to Mashkov, and I strongly suspect he's trying to undermine Alberto."

"Have you discussed this with Alberto?"

"I mentioned I was concerned, but he refuses to believe his brother would do anything like that. It's his one blind spot. That and Tessa."

"So you need cast-iron proof of his betrayal," I say, reading between the lines.

"Yeah. I'm hoping if I can figure out why Dante has been seen with Mashkov, then I'll have something concrete to take to Alberto. I told him that I'd seen Dante speaking to Kirov, Mashkov's second, and he dismissed my concerns."

"Then let's see what goes on behind the red door."

A password murmured to the guard opens the red door and we walk into a small lobby area with a reception desk. A tall blond wearing nothing but a silver thong greets us.

"Welcome to the Dark Side, gentlemen. Can I see your QR code, please?"

Kade slides his phone over the counter. The blond scans the code and then smiles. From what Kade told me earlier, it costs a fortune to access this part of the club. Only the very wealthy are eligible.

That figures.

Luckily for us, Travis Chan falls into that category. The guy created a wildly popular online game and is now worth billions. Some of which he spends in Alberto's casinos, which is how Kade met him.

Like a lot of rich, bored men, Chan is an adrenaline junkie. He thought he could get away with cheating the house, only he hadn't accounted for Kade's determination to find the person stealing from Alberto.

Kade pulled him in a few weeks back after the cameras finally caught him. Chan assumed his fancy lawyers would protect him from any repercussions. Only he was wrong.

If it had been anyone else, Chan would be dead by now, but Kade let him walk away relatively unharmed.

Why? Because even though Chan is an idiot, he's a useful idiot. A guy Kade knows did some digging into Chan and discovered that he ran in the same circles as Dante, so Kade figured he might come in useful at some point.

It hasn't taken long for that hunch to pay dividends.

Chan was happy to extend a special invite to his new BFF, Kade, as well as pay the required fee to attend tonight. While I'm not exactly poor, dropping $500k on a night out is a lot, and since Kade doesn't want Alberto to know he's investigating Dante, he couldn't ask him to cover the cost, either.

But it all worked out perfectly.

"Please step through the scanner and remove all weapons. They'll be waiting for you when you leave."

We deposit our guns in metal trays, which are placed in an adjacent room.

The blond points to the elevator. "Enjoy your evening, gentlemen," she says with a smile. Kade and I step in. There's only one button. I assume this takes us where we need to go.

Kade presses it and the doors swish shut.

Comments

0 Comments
Best Newest

Contents
Settings
  • T
  • T
  • T
  • T
Font

Welcome to FullEpub

Create or log into your account to access terrific novels and protect your data

Don’t Have an account?
Click above to create an account.

lf you continue, you are agreeing to the
Terms Of Use and Privacy Policy.