40. Meanwhile in Las Vegas
Meanwhile in Las Vegas
LUCA
T he scent of sweat and overly sweetened perfume clings to me as I enter The Desert Rose. I’m sick and fucking tired of working these seedy-ass strip clubs for Giuseppe Malatesta—the Boss of the Vegas Mafia.
Four fucking years of this shit punishment—of lying low—for a crime I never wanted to commit in the first place.
Did I want Carmela to be mine? Yes, but I didn’t know I was trading my life for a botched attempt at manipulation.
I should have taken out Anderson Brooks when I had the chance.
“Got a new girl coming on tonight. Show her the ropes. Try to talk her into fucking the customers. She’s a pretty one, but a little prissy for this place, if you ask me,” Tony, the manager, relays as he flips through paperwork from the stool he’s perched on.
“I didn’t. Why am I the one showing her the ropes? That’s below my pay grade.” I reach behind the shiny black bar top for the well whiskey and pour myself a shot.
“Bella called out. So it falls to you. She’s in The Rose Room.”
I don’t even bother asking why he sent her in there when he should have sent her to the back to get acquainted with the rest of the girls. Tony’s a shit manager, and everyone knows it. But he’s loyal, and Giuseppe values loyalty above everything else.
I toss back another shot before going to find my assignment.
She’s standing in the middle of the room, bathed in neon pink lighting, patiently waiting for someone to give her orders as she checks out her surroundings. She’s petite, with an hourglass figure and dark hair that flows down to her elbows.
“Evening,” I greet. “Listen, I don’t know why Tony sent you in here. You need to go introduce yourself to the other girls in the back and change.”
“I don’t have anything to change into.” She cants her head to the side as her light eyes practically glow. There’s something familiar about them that I can’t place.
“Well, you can’t work in that,” I say, gesturing to her dress. It looks expensive. She looks expensive. What’s a woman dressed like her doing in a place like this?
“Oh, I have no intention of working here.” She sashays closer, one black stiletto in front of the other, until she’s a mere few inches away.
“Then why are you here?”
“Because I know who you are,” she purrs.
What the fuck?
No one is supposed to know who I am. Giuseppe is the only person in Vegas who knows my true identity.
The woman’s seafoam eyes are piercing through the pink lighting, glowing with amusement as I try to figure out where I’ve seen her before. For the last few years, all I’ve done is work, eat, sleep, and fuck—and the last one doesn’t even happen that often.
Did I fuck her and forget to call or something?
No. There’s no way I’d forget a girl like her.
She takes a step closer, pressing her freshly manicured nails against my chest, and guides me to sit in a chair. “Think real hard,” she purrs.
I undress her with my eyes, taking in every inch for something that jogs my memory. As I peruse her body, tinkling laughter escapes from her lips as she reaches for the straps of her dress. Slowly, she peels the black fabric down her body, revealing a set of lacy lingerie.
Suddenly, it hits me: gold wings, a pouty smile, those eyes nestled behind a black mask. It might have been years ago, but the code name she used at Désirer comes back to me in an instant.
“Misty?”
“Hello, Luca.” A feline grin pulls her red lips up at the corner as she lowers herself to my lap. “I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”
“Why?” I ask warily. Surely, she knows everything that happened at Désirer. Carmela survived the gunshot wound. There’s no way others didn’t work out what happened after I disappeared.
Regardless, it doesn’t stop my cock from springing to attention as Misty lowers her lips to my ear, her nearly naked breasts straining against the confines of her bra.
Halloween night rears to the forefront of my mind. The one from four years ago, when my father sent another one of his men to the club to butcher a man, veering from our plan and keeping me out of the loop. Before that night went to Hell, Misty had propositioned me during setup.
“I think we could have a lot of fun together. I plan on wearing white wings tonight. So, if you’re up for it, you should find me.”
I had been seriously thinking about it before everything went to shit. But it still doesn’t explain why she’s been looking for me.
“You don’t remember me. But that’s okay, I don’t expect you to,” she whispers, lips caressing the shell of my ear .
Her skin is soft as I raise my hands to settle on her waist. “I do remember you.”
Goosebumps erupt over my flesh as she lets out a deep and throaty laugh. “No, you really don’t. You killed my brother, Luca. You promised to keep him safe, and then you murdered him.”
A sharp stab pricks my thigh, causing me to jolt in surprise. Looking down, I see her hand wrapped around the handle of a knife. She lets go, grabbing the edge of my shirt and pulling it up to wipe her prints off it, causing it to wiggle deeper into the muscle.
Frozen, disbelief etches over my features as I meet her gaze. Judging by the way a tingling numbness begins to spread through my body, I’d say the knife has a healthy amount of some type of paralytic on it.
Where the fuck was she even keeping that thing?
“Don’t worry, it’s not lethal,” she coos, standing to pull her dress back on. “It’s just a little warning. I took my time in New York, trying to get to know you and situate myself in your life so you’d trust me—just like my brother trusted you.”
Who the fuck is your brother?
I can’t force my mouth to form the words. My limbs feel heavy as drowsiness settles in.
“But now? Let’s just say you should probably watch your back, Luca. I know all your secrets. And I’m going to enjoy watching you squirm.” She stretches out a finger and pokes the side of my shoulder hard enough to send me flying to the floor, unable to catch my fall.
The image of her walking away grows blurry as panic settles over me like a weighted blanket.
A tinkling giggle resonates throughout the room. “‘Till next time, il mio mostro.”
Monster.
If she thinks she has the upper hand, she’s got another thing coming.
It’s been far too long since I unleashed the beast I keep buried inside. When I see her again, I’ll show her exactly how monstrous I can be.
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