Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Ezekiel
“I heard from my friend at the station,” Cain joins me in the booth, handing me the stack of files remaining from last night.
“Any good news?”
“They received a report of a sighting last week, but it turned out to be a dead-end.” After placing down his laptop, Cain picks up half of the files, leaving me with the rest.
One of our allies in law enforcement, detective Michael Gerrard, a friend of Cain’s since they were teenagers, has been working closely with us on solving the disappearances of our dancers.
I don’t know how they met, all my brother shared is that Michael owes him some favor, but over the years they seem to have developed a get genuine friendship.
“It’s impossible to commit a perfect crime.” I’m already skimming through the first file, when a redacted section grabs my attention. “Hey, look. This is from three years ago, look.”
Cain leans in. “These documents shouldn’t be redacted, what the hell is going on?”
Just as I’m about to speak, something on the stage grabs my attention. Riley is waiting for her turn to practice and looks even more nervous than she did during the auditions. She looks tired and she’s not wearing a lot of makeup.
“Should we call Dad’s ex assistant?” Cain asks, interrupting my stare.
“Yes, let’s arrange a meeting with him as soon as possible,” I loosen the top buttons of my shirt, exposing my collar bone. “It might not be related to Ronan Devlin at all, but it’s still worth checking.”
We’re close enough to the stage for me to monitor the rehearsals and evaluate the dancers, but far enough to be able to keep our conversation private.
Riley hasn’t seen me yet. My jaw tightens as I scan her from head to toe.
She’s wearing ankle boots, with short jeans and a long-sleeved top, leaving a lot to the imagination.
“It’s Mal, I have to take this,” Cain runs moves away to pick up the phone call, leaving me alone at the table.
That’s when Riley notices me and our eyes meet. I was right, she is exhausted and I wonder if witnessing what she shouldn’t have kept her up last night. I grin, noticing the fear in her eyes.
“They had no luck with the security footage from the apartment building either,” Cain drops his body back into the booth. “Everything from the day of the disappearance was erased.”
“At this rate we will have to verify the location of each staff member on that day,” I whisper.
“I was thinking the same thing,” my brother nods.
The music stops, drawing my attention back to the stage. It’s time for Riley to get on with Diana and Hanna. Every time we hire new dancer, the training process includes the guidance and help from senior, more experienced dancers, alongside with the training they get from Jena.
I watch them move awkwardly together, Riley struggling to keep up as if she’s feeling uncomfortable.
Jena stops the practice and patiently explains to Riley how group dances work.
The hazel brown eyes seem determined to get it right and she nods, following along as the girls and Jena instruct her to.
She avoids looking at me again.
No matter how hard I try to focus on the conversation with my brother and the documents we’re supposed to be revising, my attention keeps going back to her. It doesn’t take long before she’s in sync with the other two girls, bringing a big smile of satisfaction to Jena’s face.
“Malachi will be back soon,” Cain speaks. “When he gets here, I’ll head north to see what I can find.”
“Good,” I look down at the documents. “Bring Eliott with you.”
“He’s going to ask for a raise at this rate,” Cain laughs. “With Levi needing him on his ass twenty-four-seven …”
Eliott is our night-shift chauffeur and bodyguard. He used to be a law enforcement officer, but likes the higher pay. He’s the guy we call when we are walking into danger. However, my youngest brother often gets himself in trouble and in a way, Eliott has become his personal driver.
“If anyone deserves it, it’s him,” I close the last document and pull it to the side.
The north side of the city is known as the most dangerous part of town. No one goes there unless they cannot afford living in a nicer neighborhood, or they are looking to get their hands dirty.
The song changes again and now Riley is dancing alone.
She’s finally let loose and moves naturally on the stage, her body following every beat as if they’re becoming one.
The thing that draws my attention is that she hasn’t taken any of her clothes off.
Unlike the rest of the girls that came in barely wearing anything, Riley looks more like the girl next door going for an afternoon walk.
During the audition we don’t require the girls to strip, so I never questioned how she feels about stripping. Looking at her now, I’m starting to second guess my decision to hire her.
If she has a problem with stripping, it would be a serious problem.
“So this is why you insisted on keeping an eye on the rehearsal while working,” Cain leans back, laughing.
“What are you talking about?”
My brother points at the girl dancing on stage. “You seem very interested in this particular one.”
“Don’t be childish,” I shoot him a look. “It’s my job to make sure our new dancers are the right fit for this job, and to keep an eye on her all things considered.”
“You definitely seem to have eyes for only her,” he raises an eyebrow.
“That’s not true.”
Cain grins. “When did you last score, brother?”
“Cut it off, Cain.” The last thing I’m interested in right now is talking about my sex life when our entire empire is at risk. “She’s the girl that saw me interrogate that guy last night.”
“Oh,” he turns around to take a better look at Riley. “She’s hot. Ever done it with a hot spy?”
“I don’t think she’s a spy,” I glance back at Riley, who’s now dancing on the pole. She’s a natural, as if she was born to dance and speak with her body. “But that doesn’t mean I should make the mistake to let her off so easily.”
Until I’m sure that she does not present a danger to Eden or my family, I am not going to take my eye off of her.
That’s when Riley wraps one hand around the pole and copies the move Jena just demonstrated. She hooks one leg around it and pushes off the floor. She makes the spin look effortless, laughing at something Jena is saying as she lands.
Fuck.
My dick strains against my pants.
“We’re glad to have you, thank you for putting your trust in Eden,” I end the phone call with a new client we signed a contract with at Eden.
On paper, the contract looks like a rich guy signing up for a membership in an elite club. In reality, they’ve just joined our magnificent scheme that will allow them to do money laundering without anyone being able to catch them.
It’s one of many exclusive services my family has been offering for decades. The clients trust us enough with their dirtiest profit and in turn we make our own profit through them.
After packing up the things I’ve been working on and dropping everything at the office, I head to the changing room to look for Riley.
The door is slightly open and I find myself frozen in place. I can see her reflection in one of the mirrors. There doesn’t seem to be anyone else in the room and I clear my throat before knocking on the door two times.
“Come on in,” Riley doesn’t bother turning around, probably assuming it’s one of the girls coming back for something.
“Come to my office.” As I speak, she freezes. “We need to have a conversation.”
“I’ll be done in less than a minute.”
“You have exactly a minute to finish that and pick all your things up,” I turn around and wait for her in the hallway.
Two other girls walk out from the other dressing room, both laughing and giggling about something.
Their faces go blank as they see me and after greeting me politely, they rush outside.
It’s not common for me or my brothers to come down here and interact with the girls, there are staff members in charge of that particular task.
“What is he doing here?” I hear one of them whisper.
“I don’t know,” the other one says. “I hope the new girl is not in trouble.”
“Maybe it’s about…”
As they get further away, I can’t hear their conversation anymore, but even without hearing it, I know exactly what they were talking about.
The girls are as worried as my brothers and I are about the disappearances.
Some quit, scared that if they kept working here, they’d be putting themselves in danger.
And I can’t really blame them for being scared.
My job as their boss is to make sure they’re safe, but when I can’t guarantee their safety, they’re free to do whatever they think is right to protect themselves.
Cain received a call earlier from some guy claiming he has information about the disappearances. I don’t know if this man is telling the truth, but I’m hopeful that meeting him later will finally give us a clue.
“I’m done,” Riley’s voice snaps me from my thoughts.
We head to my office, neither of us saying a word on the way there.
“This is…” She immediately shuts up when we pass through the corridor where we first met. The place where I kept her pinned against the wall.
“It’s a shortcut to my office,” I smirk, realizing how nervous she is. “Only my brothers and I are allowed to use it.”
“Oh…” She looks away, avoiding eye contact. “That makes sense.”
“Does it?”
I notice her blushing in the low light. She holds onto the strap of her bag a little tighter, as if she’s getting ready to bolt if needed. Or maybe take it out of the way so she can kick me in the balls without the bag getting in the way.
“Take a seat,” I make myself comfortable in my chair, watching her hesitate before she seats across from me.
“Did I do something wrong?” She doesn’t break eye contact this time.
“You tell me, Riley,” I lean in, crossing my fingers with both my elbows on the table. “Do you know what your job here is?”
“Being an…” She blinks, confused. “Exotic dancer.”