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“I know he will be here. We’ve been flirting non-stop at the gym…” Alexis trailed off nervously.
“Let’s go dance, we can get your mind off of him. If he doesn’t show up, he can’t ruin the mood if we were already having fun without him. But he will show up, who wouldn’t? You’re awesome.”
Alexis smiled. “You’re right.” She said as she grabbed my hand and pulled me out to the middle of the dance floor. The lights on the dance floor swirled around us, flashing in different colors as we moved. With a tequila shot and vodka running through my veins, I was moving carelessly to the music. I felt free in the chaos of the people grinding and swaying. My inhibitions floated away as I fully immersed myself in the thumping bass. We may have looked like idiots, eyes closed and just grooving together, but we were happy.
2
Chapter 2
WILDER
My footsteps echoed as I walked into the rundown house. The house was at the end of a barren road, way too far out for anyone to venture. It was one of my favorite spots to work. I paused before I entered through the paint chipped door and took the time to calm myself in the cool night air. The porch was cluttered with old, rusted tools and a few broken chairs. Here it was quiet and still but if you waited and were quiet yourself you could hear the mosquitoes buzzing, and in the distance, some frogs croaking. Most people didn’t pause though. And when I left my contracts out here, they only heard silence.
The guy was tied to a metal chair, with ropes around his wrists and ankles. He’d already pissed himself but he was left untouched. No bruises, not a hair out of place. My men knew that I preferred to let these guys wonder what could happen. The pain would give them a distraction from my impending arrival. I wanted them to anticipate me.
I didn’t reveal myself when I walked into the room, but he could tell that my presence was there “Please, Wilder, I promise. It wasn’t me. The product was on the boat when it left Santos.”
People really did underestimate the power of silence. Humans didn’t like to hear their own thoughts. They wanted the air to be filled with noise. I preferred silence. It made people uneasy. And I used the silence as a weapon. I couldn’t help but to smile to myself. When people were uncomfortable, they became vulnerable. I knew he was lying, the Kavanagh family would never get the product or money back. Whatever products weren’t already up his nose had already been sold off. He thought he would be able to get away with it, taking a little at a time but it added up, and we were meticulous. The vulnerability as I waited in silence would ultimately lead to him giving up more than he intended. I emerged from the shadow of the farther wall. By the end of his life, he was begging for mercy.
Screams filled the night of the once quiet countryside and my contract was complete.
I pulled up outside of Club Paradiso as the rain started to beat down against the windshield. I let out a deep sigh, it just added to my already fucked up mood. I didn’t necessarily enjoy the work I do for my father. But I was really fucking good at it. My job was to take care of anyone who posed a threat to our family’s business, and I did it with ruthless efficiency.
The Kavanaugh family had been a fairly strong and influential criminal organization in the East and Midwest for years. When I turned 18, my father sent me out to Chicago to head up the businesses in the area while he and my brother remained back in Boston. Some of our endeavors were actually legal and profitable, in addition to the more shady ones that brought in most of our income.
Paradiso was one of our family’s legitimate businesses. A club was a very efficient way of cleaning the money that our less-than-honorable businesses brought in. I had set up my office there, and it was where I handled most of my day-to-day work for the family. I left the day-to-day management of the club to John.
John approached my car and I handed him my keys “Good evening John. Busy night, any problems?”
“It’s a good night sir. I will let you know if anything requires your attention.” John replied.
I thanked John and headed into Paradiso. I went up the staircase to the second level knowing exactly where I would find Levi. I spotted him sitting in a corner booth. A couple of girls were already hanging on him and him grinning boyishly. Levi waved me over.
Levi had been my brother since we were having fist fights over Hot Wheels. My childhood wasn’t normal but he had never left my side, our lives intertwined in ways that were hard for others to understand. I couldn’t trust anyone in my world, but he was the closest I could get. After my mom left us, his mom always sent over cookies and treats with Levi when he came over to my house. She had to send them because I wasn’t allowed to leave the estate. Levi’s father was a legal counsel for the Kavanaugh family; he was a trusted member of my father’s Inner Circle. Levi was acceptable company while other children were not.
Thankful for the whiskey that Levi handed me, I scanned the scene. The whiskey worked its way through my body, and the coils in my muscles that had built up through the night relaxed. The blond girl beside me, all tits and no personality, giggled into my ear telling me all about how she was going to school to become a dental hygienist. I gave her the appropriate responses and nodded my head when I should’ve. I put my arm around her shoulder, my finger rubbed circles in that spot behind her ear. She was lapping up the attention; she was so ready to go she probably would go down on me right in the booth. It was too fucking easy sometimes.
I started to relax; I was letting the tension from the night fall away, the screams of the man earlier played a low soundtrack to the music of the club. Sometimes it took a few days for me to bury the work I did so far down until I could stop hearing them in my head. Levi was telling me about a recent court case he won that he probably shouldn’t have because of his dumbass client when I noticed John waiting for me by the top of the staircase.
“Excuse me, girls,” I said as I rose from the table. Giggle tits over-exaggerated her frown as I walked away. I heard Levi offer to dance with them followed by happy squeals, apparently giggle tits wasn’t as attached to me as she had acted.
“I’m sorry to interrupt sir. Yuri Azarov is in the back. He’s pretty deep in and drunk. I can handle it if you’d like but I know who his father is.”
“It’s all right. I will handle it.” I headed down the stairs toward the back area of the club which was reserved for high-stakes poker games. The Azarov family headed up Russian Bratva in the US with Yuri being the son of the boss. He was a frequent flyer in my game rooms and not a very good player either. Unfortunately, that results in me playing a very fine line between not being taken advantage of and protecting the relationship with the Bratva.
I finished up with Yuri quickly, I used charm and flattery to convince him to finish his night with one of the working girls back at his hotel. Afterward, it wasn’t hard to find the two girls and Levi on the dance floor. Watching Levi and the girls dance, my mind was elsewhere. Waiting in the shadows beside the bar I watched but didn’t join them. I was just ready to get home. I could fuck the blond and crash.
Despite my desire to leave, my eyes were pulled to a girl dancing near Levi. You could see the moment the music took control, her hips swayed and she held her hands up in the air while she kept her eyes closed. A faint smile lifted the corners of her lips. Her tight, black dress against her light brown skin rode up, stopping just below her butt. There was something about her. She didn’t belong among the grinding and sweaty bodies she was enveloped in. As her friend tugged on her arm for her attention, she opened her eyes and looked around. Our eyes met, and for a moment, I felt a connection. Then she turned away and disappeared into the crowd, leaving me with a feeling of longing and curiosity.
3
Chapter 3
ANNA
“Oh my god. I am having so much fun. I am so out of breath!” Alexis yelled over the club music playing. A thin film of sweat made my dress stick to me, unfortunately. Alexis grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd to the bar.
“Two vodka shots please!” I asked the bartender.
