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“Last time, we were all thrown off by Dad’s sudden heart attack, and we didn’t know Frederic Capello was waiting in the wings to steal our assets and frame me for a crime I didn’t commit.”
Benito shakes his head, exhales a weary breath, and pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose. My little brother has always been too cautious, and what Capello did to our family has turned him into a compulsive worrier.
Who can blame him? With Dad dead, me in jail, and Cesare running rampant, he’s had more responsibility than any man can handle.
I clap him on the shoulder. “Relax. When I pull this off, you’ll be in charge of the finances, and I’ll handle the rest. Deal?”
The smile he gives me is strained, but that’s Benito. He’s bookish, mild-mannered, and was always meant to be the family attorney.
“Give me the casino and the attached hotels,” he says.
“Deal.” I shake his hand.
A knock on the door interrupts our moment. Cesare bounds in, dripping water on the floor, looking like he’s swum a mile in Lake Alderney.
“Your girlfriend just stepped in,” he says, his eyes dancing.
I turn to Benito and grin. “You finally got a girl?”
With a sniff, he points at the monitors on the wall. “He means yours.”
My gaze snaps to the screens. “Where?”
Cesare picks up the remote and points it at the middle monitor. The image zooms in through the entrance of the nightclub, where a sextet of women has gathered around the coat check.
I rise off my seat, round the desk, and stand in front of the screen to examine their faces until I find Emberly. She’s the only one with unruly dark curls that tumble down her shoulders and is wearing a dress made of denim patchwork that hugs that round, sweet ass.
My mouth falls open and all the air leaves my lungs. Seeing her on a large monitor is not the same as catching glimpses on the surveillance app on a tiny screen. She’s taller than I expected, with olive skin that reminds me of her father’s. I take in her delicate features and snarl. No spawn of Frederic Capello has any business being so beautiful.
It would be almost a crime to torture a woman so exquisite or with a body so alluring, but I won’t allow lust to cloud my judgment.
Maybe I’ll finally deserve the five years I spent on death row. The only thing better than watching those pretty features twist in agony as I force her to sign over her inheritance would be giving Capello a front-row seat from hell.
Cesare wraps an arm around my shoulder. “Fuck her up, bro.”
He doesn’t need to tell me twice.
By the time I’ve finished with Emberly Kay, she’ll be begging for death.
FOUR
EMBERLY
I’m still stinging from being scammed by Lafayette when I walk into the Phoenix with my roommate and her friends. They wouldn’t let me spend Friday night moping around the apartment and dragged me out for their girls’ night.
Apparently, we’re the lucky recipients of a flier granting us free entrance to both the club and its VIP section. Maybe the bar staff will let me drown my sorrows and help me forget I’m swimming in debt.
Music pounds through the overhead speakers as we crowd around the coat check. I glance toward a set of double doors that lead to the club’s interior and hope to hell that this ticket isn’t a bait and switch to lure us in to buy overpriced cocktails.
“Ember.” My roommate, Annalisa, tugs on my arm. “Your turn.”
My gaze snaps to the coat check girl and I shoulder off my jacket and offer it to her with a weak smile. Her gaze sweeps up and down my patchwork denim halter neck.
“Nice dress,” she says with a broad grin.
“It’s made of jeans she bought at a thrift store,” Annalisa yells over the music.
Everyone in the foyer, including Annalisa’s friends, turns in our direction to scrutinize my outfit. An itchy flush creeps up my neck and blooms across my face, making me squirm.
