Chapter 17
Fuck my life. After an uncomfortably silent drive into the club, tension so damn thick I could cut it, I arrive to find Romeo already here.
I can’t deal with him today.
The sleeping pills I took last night to knock me out have left me drowsy and out of it.
Not how I want to be when I have to verbally spar with the asshole trying to take over my life.
I also woke up to a text message from Reef saying he wants to see me again.
Today for lunch if possible.
I haven’t texted back, I couldn’t.
Even I don’t know how on earth to navigate this situation.
The cop, the bodyguard, and the mafia boss.
How the hell did I get all messed up with the three of them?
Ignoring Romeo’s amused greeting of good morning, I stalk past him and straight into my office, slamming the door behind me just because I can.
I pick up my phone and call the only person I know who can help me right now.
“Harley, sis, I need your help.”
“Everything alright, Sloane? You sound strange,” her sweet voice comes down the line, making me feel slightly better already.
“I feel strange,” I admit.
The tension in my jaw makes me feel like I’m about to break a tooth.
“Do you need me to call Ricky? He’s setting up the clinic today, but I’m sure he could drop in and check on you. ”
I sigh heavily, feeling the weight of my decisions of the last week bearing down on me.
“No, this isn’t a medical kind of strange. I can’t tell you over the phone. Can you do lunch today?”
“For you girl, anything. It’s about time you filled me in on all your shenanigans.” I hear her smirk through the phone.
“Thank you, I’ll see you here at noon.”
“Perfect, see you then.” She disconnects the call.
I breathe a sigh of relief.
If anyone will get what I’m going through, it’ll be her.
The sudden click of my office door opening makes me jump in surprise.
Quickly I spin around to see Romeo’s suited silhouette in the entrance.
With a cocky grin, he saunters in, the click of the lock sealing the two of us in here together.
“My access card has arrived,” he tells me, a cheeky-as-fuck grin on his face.
A rush of heat comes over me, and I glare in his direction.
“So, you thought you would just let yourself into my office when I clearly want to be left alone this morning?”
“We have business to discuss, doll face. And since you spent the night out playing with the new detective, we have a lot to catch up on, don’t we.” He moves toward me, his presence filling my personal space with an overwhelming sense of closeness.
He smells like expensive cologne and sin, an intoxicating combination for my senses.
His expression tells me he’s not just talking about business.
He wants to know what I got up to last night.
Wasn’t he spying on me anyway?
I straighten my shoulders and tilt my gaze up at him.
I might be a hell of a lot shorter, but I won’t let his size intimidate me.
“This is still my office. If you want your own space to work from, I’m sure I can find you a janitor’s closet or something down at the other end of the building. ”
He chuckles lightheartedly.
“You’re funny today, Sloane.” His hand finds my arm, trailing up it delicately.
“Here I was thinking we could just share.” He moves in closer, sending my heart into overdrive.
“Since I know how much you like my body close to yours.” He roughly grabs my ponytail, the sudden jerk making my head snap back, then wraps it around his fist, forcing my gaze upward.
“Get your fucking hands off me,” I snap, not sure why his brutal hold on me has my panties damp and my stomach clenching with anticipation at the same time.
I don’t know why he makes me so nervous, but there is just something in his dark gaze that slightly terrifies and excites me.
His lips twist up at the sides, and he tilts his head, looking over every little detail of my face.
“A little hot for a high neckline today, isn’t it, doll face?” With his free hand, he reefs the turtleneck of my top down my neck, revealing the bite marks Onyx left on me last night.
His eyes flare and his jaw grows tight.
“Did the cop do this to you?” he seethes, his grip tightening on me.
I’ve had enough of this shit, so I clench my fist and bring it into his gut, grinning to myself when he releases me with a pained groan.
I move away from him quickly, getting my desk in between us.
I desperately need space, a second to think and breathe.
He glares back at me, and I can see he is jealous as hell, but he has no right to be.
He ruined whatever we started when he tried to take over my business.
“Just because we have a business arrangement doesn’t mean you own me.” I reach for my purse, pulling the images free and throwing them across my desk in his direction.
“You pull a fucking stunt like that again and I will make sure you regret it. Don’t mess with me, Moretti. This is your only warning. ”
He stares at me like a raging bull with his nostrils flaring.
I half expect to see steam coming from his ears, but that really is a little dramatic, even for him.
“You are the most infuriating woman I have ever met,” he spits, collecting up the images, studying them more closely.
“What the fuck is this?”
I narrow my eyes on him.
“Don’t bullshit me, I know you sent them last night while I was having dinner with Detective Wilder.”
“ Mia ragazza ,” he says the words scribbled in Italian, sounding confused.
Then his eyes meet mine, a look of fear flashing in them.
“I didn’t do this. Ask Myriah, I was here until we closed last night working.”
I cross my arms across my chest, not ready to back down just yet.
I don’t trust this man as far as I could throw him.
“Well, you had some goon who works for you do it then. I know it was you.”
His face grows more serious.
“I swear, Sloane, I didn’t do this. Sure, I wanted to knock his head off when he kissed you right in front of me, but I’m not into creepy shit like this. I handle my problems like a man.”
I stare back at him, a knot tightening in my chest, wishing he was lying.
But unfortunately, I don’t think he is.
He did genuinely look shocked when he saw the images and what they said on the back, so unless he’s an excellent actor, this was someone else.
“W… What, does it say, it’s Italian, right?”
“ My girl. I’m coming for you, my girl.” He reads the back of the image.
A cold shiver slithers down my spine.
If it wasn’t him, who?
He leans into my desk with a thoughtful expression on his face.
“Don’t tell me you’ve never received stalker mail before. In your job you must get shit like this all the time. It’s why you have Onyx following you around, isn’t it? ”
My foggy brain can’t process this shit today.
My heart starts to race as panic takes over.
“Stalker mail, no. We vet our VIPs very carefully. If anyone pulled shit like that on me or my girls, they wouldn’t get back in this place. Enzo used to threaten me with all sorts of shit, but we both know this isn’t him.”
“Well, someone has taken a liking to you. Someone other than Detective Wilder, your bodyguard, and me.” His lips twist at the sides.
I stare back at him, trying to process what he is saying.
Firstly, that he’s admitting to liking me.
Secondly, he knows about Onyx?
What the fuck does he know!
“Are you spying on me?” I snap back, ready to have it out with him all over again.
This man is infuriating in so many ways.
He not so subtly checks his watch.
“We really should start discussing what’s on the agenda for today,” he says, changing the subject.
“Answer me, Romeo. You know way too much about me. What, have you got hidden cameras in my damn apartment or something?” I fire back at him, needing to know.
He circles my desk, like a predator stalking its prey.
His movements are slow and deliberate as I scurry to the opposite side, the desk a solid barrier between us, my heart racing a little faster.
“I told you, Sloane, I’m very perceptive. I pick up on cues people give, and you’re too easy to read.” His eyes lock with mine, like he’s trying to read into the depths of my soul.
I don’t like it. “We both know those marks weren’t from the detective, he went home alone, but you… You had company, didn’t you? Onyx walked you in safely, doing his job like a good boy. Until he decided to stick his dick in you. I wonder what your brothers would think about that betrayal of their trust?”
I match his intensity, giving zero away.
“Nothing because nothing happened,” I snap .
From across the table he lunges, snatching up my wrist, forcing papers to go flying across my desk as I’m pulled toward him.
“Don’t lie to me, doll face. I see right through you.” His other hand comes to my face, cupping my chin as he stares at me with a longing that scares me.
He licks his bottom lip slowly as if he’s imagining the way I taste.
I swallow the lump in my throat, remembering what it was like to have his lips on mine, his body controlling mine, and his dick buried so damn deep inside of me.
Oh fuck, I’m so damn screwed when it comes to him.
“I won’t tell your secrets, Sloane. We’re business partners, I want you to trust me.” He finally lets me go and walks toward the velvet sofa, taking a seat as if that altercation never happened.
I’m left rubbing my wrist and trying to get my racing pulse under control before I have a fucking heart attack.
“I’ll give you five minutes to collect yourself, then we start for the day.” He pulls out a laptop that I didn’t see him come in here with.
The fucker has been in my office without me.
I want to bite out at him again but today has already gotten too far out of control.
This isn’t about me.
This is about keeping my girls safe, and in order to do that, I have to find a way to work with him.
Even if I hate it.
I slink into my attached bathroom, pacing, not sure what to do about all of this.
I wish I could leave for lunch with Harley right now.
Because by myself for the first time in my life, I have nothing to go off, no answers of how to get myself out of this predicament.
I’m not that girl, the one who lets men have any power over her, but Romeo has something over me, so does Onyx, and if my response to the detective last night is anything to go off, he has an unexplainable hold on me as well.
I don’t know what is wrong with me, but I need to swallow some concrete and harden the hell back up.
Start thinking with my head and not my flustering heart—or is it my needy pussy.
One taste of cock and she’s willing to throw away years of my hard work.
Nope, it’s not going to happen.
In the top drawer, I find my bottle of pills and pop two in my mouth, swallowing them down with a sip of water from the sink.
Calmly, I reapply my lipstick and fix my ponytail.
You can do this because you are Sloane fucking Stryker and you can do anything, I tell myself, making sure to straighten my shoulders and lift my head up high.
Deal with one issue at a time, Sloane, and don’t let Romeo rattle you.
Just because I screwed him doesn’t mean he’s got something over me.
I hold all the power here because I know for a fact he wants me again.
With that knowledge up my sleeve, I stride back into the room, collect a notepad from my desk and a pen, then take the seat opposite a smirking Romeo.
“Where do you want to start?” I ask with more confidence than I have right now.
But I’m nothing if not a good actress, so here goes.
His fingers fly across his keyboard, a rhythmic tapping filling the silence before he glances up at me like I was somehow interrupting him.
“This VIP event you’re hosting next weekend, how does it work?”
“It’s a masquerade event held in the VIP section of the strip club, with anonymity being the key, allowing some of our more high-profile VIPs to indulge in their darkest desires without fear of recognition. The men will mingle with a selection of our best girls, and by the end of the night, all of our private rooms will be booked out. We have run similar events before and they always prove to be very lucrative for all involved.”
“Interesting, can anyone who is a VIP attend?” The way he looks at me, his eyes running down my body, makes me want to slap him .
“You are not a VIP,” I snap back at him, knowing exactly what he is implying.
He wants me back in one of the private rooms with him.
He never gives up.
“I’m sure I could afford the membership.”
I purse my lips, a thin line of disapproval forming across my face.
“I’m sure you could as well, but there is no way anyone who runs this place is attending the event. It’s unprofessional.”
“There is always an exception, though, isn’t there, Sloane?” He smirks, and I know he’s talking about my slip-up.
The biggest mistake of my life and I’m going to pay for it forever.
I sit up straighter.
“This event is one of the highest money makers for the girls all year, it’s extremely important to the club, and everything has to run smoothly.”
“Money makers for the girls?” he asks, and I see I have just wiped the cheeky smirk off his face.
“Yes, they keep whatever offer they have placed on them.”
This time his eyes narrow in on me.
“How do we make money out of this event, Sloane?” he asks, a little more seriously.
“We sign up new clients who pay through the nose for their yearly membership privileges. After being vetted, VIPs receive a black card that allows them access to the VIP section where the dancers work. Invitations to all the events and parties we host and access to booking out the private rooms when needed. It’s win-win.”
His fingers dance across his keyboard once more.
“How much are you charging for these privileges?”
“A hundred and fifty grand a year.”
He runs a hand thoughtfully along his jaw, mulling over what I just told him, I’m sure working out that for him that means a whopping ninety thousand on every VIP that signs up for a new membership.
But it’s not all profit.
It takes a hell of a lot to run this place, and most of the money I make goes back into the business, that’s the way I have always run it.
“Could we offer different tiers? It’s a great idea to host these events, and I’m sure it helps to keep your girls happy if they make all the money they earn. But we need to be making bank as well. What if we introduced some tiers to your VIP card system? Say black is the bottom at one-fifty, then we could have gold at two hundred and platinum at three hundred. At the top level, the VIPs could receive their own hostess for the night, who will cater to their every need. Private lounge access, where only gold and above can enter, exclusive performances, possibly even a secret menu with special services, something more provocative. Platinum could be priority picks of dances, personal fantasy nights, no-limits-experience VIP treatment with no restrictions.” He shrugs, a little too pleased with himself.
“Just a few ideas I have been working on.
I stare back at him, thinking over everything he just said. It’s not the worst idea I ever heard, and now that he’s going to be significantly cutting my profits, I’m going to need something to help make up the difference. But we will need to be careful how we word it, and we might need extra security measures to make sure the girls are safe. “It could work.
Where are we going to find this extra room?
For the more exclusive parties or shows?
”
His smile broadens.
“You like one of my ideas?” he asks cheekily, looking way too pleased about it.
My head drops, and I fiddle with the hem of my skirt.
“I didn’t say I liked it. I just said I would consider it.”
His chuckle fills the room, and I glance back at him, wondering why this is so amusing.
“The extra space is easy, sweetheart. I have purchased the entire building to the right of us. There is more than adequate room to have a few areas that cater to different needs and party sizes. I’ll email you the particulars. But I think you’re going to like what I have come up with. It’s going to mean more cash for both of us and your girls don’t have to take the hit. The wealthy bastards who want to sample their goodies do.”
I nod, indicating he can send me the details.
“Do you have the keys? I want to see this space.”
He types something into his laptop, and I assume it’s him sending me the email.
Then he closes it, stands, and walks toward me, taking a key out of his pocket.
He dangles the thing in front of my face, and I snatch it up.
“Look at you getting all excited by my changes. Maybe we can work together after all.” He winks playfully.
I want to wipe the smug-as-shit grin off his face, but he just might be right.
I have been doing this alone for so long, I was stuck in a rut.
I hadn’t considered expanding further.
And as much as I will never admit it to him, this might actually work.