Valentin stepped aside and waved at the main room. “By all means.”
He didn’t know if these cops were in Bergam’s pocket or if Bergam had made the false reports that brought them there. He could only be grateful he’d found the package and, based on the video footage he and Xan combed through, it didn’t appear anything else had been planted.
He hoped.
Valentin asked the officers if he needed to close the club so they could investigate. They said they could look around without disturbing the patrons. That was his first clue that these cops weren’t on the up-and-up. The second was when the officers made a noisy show of searching the downstairs office and media room, then weaved through the crowd on the floor without actually looking at anyone. Just working their way toward the bourbon.
Behind the bar, their investigation suddenly became more focused and deliberate. Xan and Valentin watched from across the room as the cops bent down in front of the bottles and reached into the shelf. Their brows furrowed.
“Not exactly subtle, are they?” Xan sneered.
“Very on brand for Bergam to find the dumbest ones to bribe, but yeah, they could have at least pretended to look harder in other places before zeroing in on the bar.”
Faces pinched, the officers moved the bottles with more purpose, until they’d meticulously examined every shelf.
Eventually, they returned to Valentin.
“So, we didn’t find anything,” the taller one said. “We’ll need to go back and check with our, um, sources.”
Valentin brushed his hands together in an exaggerated motion. “Well, I am certainly relieved those reports turned out to be false.” He stared at the officers, curling his fingertips and brushing them across his chest. “If there ever were drugs on the premises, they are obviously long gone.”
“Long gone,” Xan agreed.
The second officer shot them a dark look. “We need to make sure we’re doing our due diligence. We might be back.”
“Right.” Valentin’s voice was knife-like. “After you check with yoursources.”
A muscle ticked in the officer’s neck, but he said nothing as he left with his partner. Several patrons looked over, but things quickly returned to business as usual.
Xan stretched his arms above his head. “Man, those guys really were stupid. Didn’t even look upstairs, not even trying to make it believable.”
“Doesn’t need to be believable. Bergam knows I won’t involve the law. If I hadn’t found the package, I’d be in handcuffs right now.”
Valentin clenched his fists. Going back to prison was his worst nightmare. He needed to neutralize Bergam. But short of giving him his father’s club, something he’d promised Ang he would not do, he couldn’t see a way.
“It was a close call,” Xan said.
“Too close.”
“He’ll try again. I need to establish new protocols with deliveries, and start going over the camera footage more often—”
Valentin silenced him with a raised palm. “This wasn’t a failure on your team’s part. Bergam has been quiet for months, and I doubt it’s from lack of trying. You’ve probably stopped him a bunch of times without even realizing it. Something was bound to get through eventually.”
“I know, but—”
“Seriously, stop. For tonight, let’s call it a win and move on. Bergam is eating the cost of thousands of dollars in product we flushed.”
Xan went into the security office, and Valentin headed toward the stairwell. There were only a few stragglers left and he trusted his staff to close the club. All he wanted to do was grab Decoy and get home to a hot shower and cool sheets.
A beta on the edge of the dance floor caught his attention. Not in the way Assa and Wes had, but in the sense that Valentin felt a tingle of recognition.Did he know that man?
They made eye contact. The beta’s face scrunched, but after a moment, he shrugged and turned back to his dance partner.
Valentin shook off the vague feeling of familiarity. He had no capacity for riddles tonight.
After climbing the stairs to his office, he realized he’d left Decoy’s cat carrier in his car. Irritated, he huffed back to the main floor and went out the side exit to where he’d parked next to the building.
He had just popped open the trunk when a body slammed viciously into his side.
