4. Jaelyn
CHAPTER 4
JAELYN
O nce I am outside of the club and away from the man who is equal parts devastatingly handsome and just plain devastating, I dart across the parking lot and run toward my car. Short, sharp gasps slip from my lips as tiny bits of gravel and sand slice at my bare feet once again. I clutch my one remaining shoe, ready to fling it at anyone who dares lay a finger on me in my mad dash.
But nobody shows up to scuffle with me a second time.
And good old Javier is probably getting nice and liquored up, courtesy of one Sergio Villani.
A deep flush heats my cheeks as I pull open the door to my Mercedes G wagon and slide into the driver’s seat. My head collapses against the seat as I slam my fists on the steering wheel.
“Fuck!” I scream, the piercing sound shattering the otherwise still air.
I came here on a mission, almost getting myself completely maimed…or worse…in the process. I did my reconnaissance, confirmed that Sergio is working with the Becerra Cartel, and fucked the target!
What was I thinking?!
My chest heaves, my heart pumping furiously as I slam my foot on the gas and head back to the Sapphire Lounge. The streetlights blind me as I swerve in and out of lanes on the Strip, weaving around cars not going fast enough for my liking.
How could I give in to the temptation of forgoing my plans and throwing myself in the arms of the man who has just become one of our mortal enemies?
And if he’s in bed with the organization who killed my parents, then he’s as ruthless, calculating, and murderous as they are.
He, like the head of the Becerra Cartel, needs to suffer.
And I need to have my damn head examined for letting myself get sucked into his funnel cloud…his delicious, sensual, and very carnal fu?—
“Stop thinking about him!” I let out a loud screech. That’s all! I just have to forget what I did. It meant nothing. I was charged up on adrenaline and let lust consume my sensibilities.
Period!
I make a sharp left down the road leading to the club. It’s dark, desolate, and not frequently traveled, which makes the club well protected. It also adds to the air of exclusivity, but let’s be real. Security is a necessity, and being in the middle of the desert shields us from the very people we’ve been trying to evade.
Nate needs to stop this meeting from taking place!
I speed down the road and maneuver my car into my designated VIP parking spot. I slip on my emergency pair of heels before I get out and run inside, past the staggering hordes of people clamoring to get through the deep blue glass doors.
I don’t bother searching the main floor because I know my brother.
Sure enough, I find him in his office, huddled over a group of security monitors.
“We…have…to…cancel,” I rasp, clutching the back of a chair for balance since my impromptu jog has me completely out of breath and energy.
“Cancel what?” he asks.
“The meeting! With Villani!”
Nate jumps up from his chair and joins me on the couch where I’ve just collapsed against the luxe pebbled leather. “Jae, what the hell are you talking about? Tell me you didn’t fucking stake out his office like I specifically told you not to!”
I take a few gulps of air and he shoves a shot of vodka into my hands. “Calm down and talk to me,” he murmurs, sinking down next to me.
“O…kay,” I say, my hands still shaking. “Don’t be mad…”
Nate rolls his eyes and scrubs a hand down the front of his face. “Goddammit, Jae…”
“Look, I know it seems bad, but I did what I had to do.”
“So you lied to me.”
“Well, of course I did! I had to! I didn’t go there to gossip with those twits and drink cosmopolitans all night long!”
Nate throws his hands into the air. “You’re gonna give a me a heart attack one of these days, do you realize that?”
I manage a small smile. “Eh, I just keep you on your toes.”
“Talk,” he says in a stern voice.
“I met Sergio Villani,” I say in a low voice. “And for the record, the guy is a complete dick. He’s arrogant, and egotistical, and…and…” I let out a huff before the other more salacious words come spilling out of my mouth. “Just a total prick, completely full of himself. He walked around like he owned the place.”
“Which he does,” Nate affirms.
I let out a frustrated sigh. “Right. Anyway, when I went to his office, he was about to meet with a group of guys. Real dirty scumbag types. Things kind of went sideways, though. The meeting didn’t happen.”
“Why not?”
I shrug. “Something about their boss not being there in person. Sergio got a little bit pissed off at that and refused to talk to them.”
“I don’t get it. How does any of that tell you we need to cancel the meeting? We needed to find out his agenda…what he wants from us and who he’s working wi?—”
“He’s working with the Becerra Cartel!” I sputter.
Nate’s lips twist, his eyes blazing with pent-up fury at the mere mention of the name. “How do you know that, Jae?” he hisses, inching closer to me.
“Don’t be mad,” I whisper.
“Oh, fuck, I wish you’d stop saying that,” he mutters, sweeping a hand through his hair.
“The guys he turned away got a little, uh, handsy with me. He stopped them, kicked them out of the club. But when I walked to my car, one of them grabbed me. Attacked me.” I bite down on my lower lip, opting against reliving the disgusting experience. “Sergio and his guys came to my rescue. But as they were dragging him away, I saw it. The same symbol that was sliced into the headrest of Dad’s car. It was them, Nate. They were there to discuss something, a partnership.”
Nate’s head falls into his hands and he mumbles to himself before he looks up at me. “Do you realize how stupid it was for you to go after him like that? How dangerous? What if they hadn’t gotten to you in time? You could have been hurt, or worse.”
“I know but?—”
“No!” he thunders, putting his hands on my shoulders. “I’ve already lost so much, Jae. Things could have gone in a very different direction tonight. You got lucky, do you understand that? You escaped some potentially serious shit!”
“Yes, I get that! But Nate, I escaped. Just like you said.” I shake my head. “Don’t you understand you’re the most important person in my life? I won’t just sit back and let anyone bulldoze you or what you built! To me, you’re worth the risk.” I manage a quivery smile. “And I know you’d do the same for me.” Tears spring to my eyes for the second time tonight. “And we’re all we have now,” I whisper, squeezing his hand.
“I should have never asked you to go there,” he mumbles. “I’d have never forgiven myself if anything happened to you.”
“Hey, we’re together in this,” I say, nestling my head against his chest. “I’d do anything for you.”
“And I was stupid to think you’d actually follow instruction,” he says with a smirk. “I mean, seriously, kid. You’re about as subtle as a hand grenade.”
“Yes. I can’t argue with that.” I smile. That’s actually kind of an understatement, and we both know it.
Still, it makes me happy to know that no matter what, I’ll do anything for him.
And I know he’d do the same for me.
“So what happens now?” I ask. “I mean, we definitely need to cancel, right?”
Nate lets out a deep sigh but doesn’t respond.
I pull away from him, my eyes wide. “Wait, you’re not considering keeping that meeting, are you? After what I found out?”
Nate frowns at me, his forehead pinched. “Jae, do I have to spell it out for you? If Villani is working with the Becerra Cartel, canceling the meeting isn’t gonna save us. The reason you’re here right now is because they didn’t know who you were.”
Well, yeah, that and the other thing.
“If they’re here, if they’re trying to get inside, there’s no fortress strong enough to keep them out. We have to come up with another plan. Or…” He pauses, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Or what?” I say, my spine stiff as I feel the tension weaving through each vertebrae.
“Or we leave Vegas. For good.”
“Well, there is no fucking way I’m going to run away again! They don’t get to keep uprooting us from our lives, Nate! Running is for the weak!”
“Running kept us alive,” he hisses at me.
“Yeah, well, now we have…you know, stuff,” I sputter in frustration, throwing up my hands. “Like money. And a crew. And money !” I swallow hard, thoughts popping between my ears like bullets. “We can stand our ground. We can win this! But it has to be on our terms. If Becerra is moving in, let’s cockblock the bastards! They’re out for blood, so let’s give it to them!” I will not leave. I will not run again. I will defend what we have left because it’s everything to us. My pulse throbs against the side of my neck. There has to be something we can do, some way to keep control, some person we can manipulate!
“Oh, so you wanna take on the cartel?” Nate shakes his head and goes over to his desk. He pours himself a shot and gulps it down, narrowing his eyes at me once his glass is empty. “That’s your big play?”
With a thumping heart, a slow smile lifts my lips. The fog lifts and I can finally see what we need to do and how we can do it. The wheels turn so fast, I can almost smell smoke billowing out of my ears, but holy shit, I have the answer. Now I just need to get Nate onboard. “Yes, take on the cartel! That’s exactly what I want to do, but I don’t want to do it alone.” I take a deep breath, bracing myself for the accolades that better tumble from my brother’s lips when he hears this stroke of brilliance. “Let’s use our prospective partner Sergio Villani and his desire to control Vegas as part of our battle plan, brother.”
“And how exactly do you expect that to work? All of a sudden, we just strip down and jump into bed with the families that are looking to snuff us out?”
Yeah, he doesn’t need to know I kind of already did that…
“Well, you refuse to cancel the meeting. So let’s be ready. First, we’ll let him think we’re not interested in selling, for any amount. Let him see how much he has to gain by grabbing hold of our business. Make him work for it. We put up a front, tell him there’s no way we’d sell, that he’ll never get what we’ve built. Guys like him love a challenge. Besides, based on what I saw tonight, they definitely need an injection of people and cash since that one club was pretty much on life support. We make it too tempting for him to walk away and then we agree to a partnership on our terms.”
“Wait, so you’re saying we need to sell?”
I look at Nate. “I’m saying that we need to consider taking on investors if we want to keep what we have. It’s not an outright sell, but yeah, screw it. If we can partner with them before Becerra can, we get Villani’s protection. That’s what we really need if we want to keep ruling this city. So what if we give up a piece? We’ll still own most of the pie.”
“That’s assuming they go along with the plan of not being in complete control.”
“Some is better than none. And none is pretty much what they have right now, so…”
“And if the thugs in the cartel ride shotgun with him the night of the meeting? If we don’t have a chance to execute your plan because we’re busy getting executed ourselves?” Nate quirks a brow at me.
I shrug. “We’ve taken them out before. We can do it again. I’m not worried.”
“You’re kind of insane, you know that, right?”
“And you’re kind of in love with my idea.” I smirk at him. “Admit it! You like the plan!”
“It keeps us in the driver’s seat.”
I nod. “We set the terms when we finally have Villani begging us for a piece of the action. Our partnership will keep Becerra far away because they won’t want to declare war on the Italians and risk getting skewered by their Russian allies unless they have a death wish.”
Nate strokes the stubble on his chin. “It would preserve the club and our business?—”
“And our lives.”
“You’re assuming we’re not too late and that Becerra hasn’t already convinced Villani to partner.”
“I’m being optimistic. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. If we can make it seem like we don’t need Villani, he’ll be back to convince us that we do. And he’ll have no clue how right he will be.”
“You really think this can work?”
“Positively.” I don’t mention the fact that it lets me put my powers of seduction to blissfully good use with Sergio Villani. Nate wouldn’t appreciate that too much.
Make him want me.
Er, I mean, the clubs.
He’ll be putty in my hands. Guys like him love a challenge. They always take the bait if they think they’re the ones running the show.
When we send him away with his dick between his legs, he’ll be back, guns blazing. His little family unit won’t be happy to hear that he couldn’t deliver. So he’s going to do whatever he can to reverse his luck.
I’m positive of it.
As positive as I am about the butterflies dancing around in my belly when I remember the way his fingertips grazed my heated skin only a short time ago, and the tingling in my groin when the memory of his body pressed against me springs to mind.
Putty in my hands, hm?
Or did I mean that I’d be putty in his ?