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Chapter One
Sydney, Australia
BENVOLIO
“What the fuck happened? You know not to draw attention to the club.”
I strode back and forth in front of the man barely out of his teenage years, who had become a pain in my arse.
I'd sent three of my men, including Gaetano—my enforcer, to one of the exclusive strip clubs—Segreti (Secrets), owned by the famiglia, to get the manager, Valerio Farino, who we'd discovered had been skimming funds.
Two weeks he’d been employed by the famiglia despite my protests. Two fucking weeks! And he’d begun stealing from the club from day one.
"The prick opened fire as soon as we walked in the door. Luckily, no one else was around. It was too early in the morning, and the girls were still upstairs. They know to mind their own business and didn't come out of their rooms. Savastino was on the door and said the shots didn't draw anyone from the surrounding properties," Gaetano explained. "Being on a large property away from other homes has its advantages."
"Who the fuck tipped you off that the men were on their way?" I asked Valerio who was struggling against Danila's hold. I don't know why he bothered; he wasn't getting free any time soon. Danila was huge in both height and build.
"No one. Gaetano and Cosimo barged inside and pulled their guns. I thought it was a raid, panicked, and started firing. It was just a reaction."
Gaetano looked at me and raised an eyebrow, we both knew Valerio was lying.
"I warned Father you were too young for this business and couldn't be trusted." My temper was spiking with the arsehole.
I had no idea why Father had come home from attending the funeral of a friend and been so fucking insistent about giving the deceased's son a position of importance.
"That's bullshit. I ain't done nothing wrong. I'm loyal to the Abruzzenesa Famiglia and you."
I crossed to my desk, hit a few keys on the computer, and brought up one of the club's ledgers before turning the monitor so Valerio could see what was on the screen.
"This is just an example. There are dozens of pages showing the same. Look here…" I pointed at the screen. "I'm no mathematician, but even I can see the figures don't match Germaine's ledger showing customer payments. Are you really so stupid that you think I wouldn't find out what you were doing?"
Germaine, the club's accountant, had called to alert me about the skimming the previous night when he was doing his monthly report.
“I ain’t done anything,” Valerio insisted.
"Germaine found almost two hundred thousand dollars missing. Are you saying it walked off on its own?"
“I didn’t take anything.” Valerio obviously wasn’t going to admit what he’d done.
I tapped a few more keys, and the screen showed Valerio entering a bank the famiglia and our employees didn't frequent. "Is that you?"
He nodded his head. “That’s where I’ve always banked.”
He was fucking lying. His earnings were deposited into an account at the same bank everyone associated with the famiglia used.
I brought up another screen. This one showed Valerio's deposits into a bank account he'd opened only two weeks earlier. The balance was one hundred and ninety-two thousand dollars. The amount matched the discrepancy in the ledger.
Valerio paled. I wondered how he would try and talk his way around this mess.
"I can explain...I'll pay you back."
I shook my head, not interested in his bullshit excuses. It was clear Valerio didn’t have a clue how to be honest or loyal.
“You have to let me go. Your father will demand to know what happened if I disappear.”
“You think I give a fuck about my father’s demands? I’m head of this famiglia now. I make the decisions. You’re of no consequence.”
Valerio glared. “Tell your fucking gorilla to take his hands off me now! I’m gonna make you regret this bullshit. I’ll come for you when you least expect me to be there.”
