1. Elin
ONE
Elin
S tuffing my hands into the pockets of my jeans, I rocked back on my heels as I looked up at the sign that read “Paradise” in neon red script. There was already a line around the corner or people waiting for security to see if their names were on the list. My father had owned this club, well, half of it, for the last twenty years, and it had become one of the most elite establishments in Trenton.
Taking a deep breath, I walked past the men and women, who glared at me for jumping ahead of them as I slipped behind the red velvet rope at the entrance. I smiled when Gerald, who had been a bouncer here for the last five years, simply nodded at me as I tucked my elbows in and slid in behind him. Music pounded through the entryway, where a secondary checkpoint was set up in front of another set of wide double doors. Nonmembers would check in as guests with the members who brought them on the right and would receive neon-yellow paper bracelets. Members would get their pins, which would be set to their preferred color for the night by our staff: red for unavailable, green for Dom, yellow for sub, and white for those who identified as neither. This pin would allow them on the third floor, where private rooms would be charged to their account, should they decide to utilize them.
This place had been my father’s pride and joy. So much so, he’d chosen it and the Azzaro family over me, his own daughter. Yet when they had ultimately been the reason for his death, I’d inherited everything. Unfortunately, that had included being business partners with the tall, impeccably dressed, egotistical piece of shit leaning against the wall, his arms and ankles crossed as he smirked at me. Gavriel Azzaro, the Azzaro mafia family heir, aka the man responsible for my dad’s death.
“Hello, Ms. Perkins.” The woman checking in members greeted me with a smile, which I returned, letting her finish with the woman in front of her while out of the corner of my vision, Gavriel’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Good evening, Bri. I hope everyone behaves tonight.”
Curiously, her attention flicked to Gavriel before returning to me. “As always, ma’am.”
Knowing I couldn’t ignore the douchenozzle now tapping his foot impatiently any longer, I turned toward him, meeting his gaze. His shoulder-length, brown, curly hair was pulled back, but a few strands had fallen loose, framing his face, giving him a sultry look. I was sure it worked on lots of women, but not me. Striding up to him, I meet his hardened gaze, ignoring that I was almost a foot shorter than his six-five frame, and put my hands on my hips. He stood up straight, likely as an intimidation tactic, and his dark brown eyes bored into me for a long minute before they trailed down and slowly back up my body.
“Are you done with your inspection? Have I met your approval? Not that I really care.”
Another smirk lifted his lips before his eyebrow rose. “You couldn’t have come dressed more appropriately?”
“Ahhh, but I wore my good jeans for this fucking meeting, and you don’t like them?” I turned and stuck my ass out, pulling my leather jacket tight as to show off what I thought was my best feature. “They make my ass look amazing.”
Someone behind me chuckled as he scoffed, “Oh, so you want to impress me? Well, listen here, kitten. I could have anyone in this building in a heartbeat.”
“First, don’t call me kitten.” I swung my arm out toward the door to where you would enter the main establishment with a large dance floor, plenty of seating, and a full-service bar. “Second, I don’t need a man’s, especially yours, approval of how I dress. I can look good for myself.”
He reached out and fingered the collar of my leather jacket. “And you think you look good in a pair of jeans, boots, cheap silk, and a knock-off leather substitute coat? You own a fucking sex club, kitten. You should dress like it.”
It was always like this. Over the years, he’d looked down on me. Treated me like I was not worth being dirt on his shoes. I took a deep breath and let it out harshly through my nose. “Again, I don’t need or want your fucking approval. Now, let’s get upstairs and start talking about the fucking club.”
Turning on his heel, he hurried into the hall. His long legs stretched the fitted navy suit he wore, and while I might have hated the man, his ass looked great in it. Watching him walk away was probably the best thing about him. He called for the elevator, and by the time I caught up with him, the doors were opening. We stepped in, and when the doors closed, my chest tightened at the memory of the last time I’d been in here.
Only a couple months ago, I had been awoken to find Gavriel’s men banging on my door, demanding I come to the club to meet with Don Azzaro himself. As I’d ridden up to the third floor, a chill had run down my spine as dread had filled me. I’d known something had happened to my father, but no one had been talking.
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath to push the memories away, only to be assaulted by the luscious smell of Gavriel’s clove and citrus cologne.
No! His family is responsible for Dad’s death. There is nothing luscious about Gavriel Azzaro. Nothing.
My feet carried me blindly out of the elevator and down the hall until we were at what used to be my father’s office. Gavriel opened the door, and when I walked in, initially, all I could see was my father’s blood still coating the carpet. The smell of iron and something rotting filling the room. I could even still feel Gavriel’s hands wrapped around my biceps to keep me from collapsing into the pooled blood as I demanded to know where my father was, then turned to Don Azzaro and growled through my teeth when he told me I didn’t need to worry about it. That the family was going to take care of all expenses and they were sorry for my loss.
“Elin.” Gavriel’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. I shook my head and looked around the office. There were small signs of where my father had been, but it had also been rummaged through, no doubt purged of anything that could be incriminating. Walking up to the built-in bookcase on the wall on the left between two windows, I ran my fingers over the shelves, noting the books that were gone. “I see you purged the Azzaros from the room.”
“Well, couldn’t have anyone unaffiliated in on our business, could we?” There was a sneer to his tone, but I didn’t react. There was nothing about this new relationship between us that I found pleasure in. It was a necessary thing to get to the point where I could take from them what they’d taken from me.
When I knelt to move a book, which was really small, hidden box in disguise, I heard Gavriel making his way toward the desk. Tipping the book back, I clicked the button and slipped my hand under the bottom, what I was looking for falling into my hands. Dad had left a note for me in his home that had simply told me to retrieve the thumb drive there for future protection. Pushing the book back into place, I opened the double doors that lined the bottom of the shelves and sighed dramatically.
“Really? You had to take the good whiskey?” Slamming the doors shut, I slipped the thumb drive into my pocket and headed toward the desk, where a laptop sat open next to Gavriel, who stood next to my father’s chair.
He shrugged. “Your father always really good taste in that aspect.”
“He had impeccable taste. The best of which was me.” I said it to get under his skin. Gavriel hated how much time my father would take off to spend with me.
His shoulder lifted. “Well, you can’t help who you . . .” His eyes roamed over me again before he continued. “. . . spawn. Though, he could have made you a little less of a spoiled shit.”
“Asshole.”
“Bitch.”
We stood there, locked in a staredown for a moment.
“Well, now that it’s clear we still don’t exactly like each other, can we get down to fucking business?” His eyebrow lifted again in a suggestive question. “I mean, literally. We are partners in running a sex club, whether we like it or not. A very successful, predominant, exclusive one at that. If we can’t figure out how to work together, then it’s all going to go to shit. Dad worked too hard on this place for us to let it burn to the ground.”