Page 48 of King of the Bronx

“What more do you want from me?”

“Who told you to get rid of the brothel!” I shouted, losing my patience.

“The Irish. I was told to sell it and disappear. They gave me a lot of money.”

The gears started to turn.

“Did you have a loan for the brothel?” I asked.

Ben shook his head. “No, I never got involved in anything like that. I keep my distance from other businesses. I ran the brothel and I went home…until the Irish told me to sell it and disappear.”

It finally made since. Ben didn’t sell Raven a bad business. The Irish has been acting like she owes them so they can get money out of her. Then, when she runs out of money, they’ll take the girls and sell them overseas. It was genius, really.

I smiled a malicious grin. “Well then, I guess today is your lucky day. I don’t have to break your kneecaps.”

*****

“Are you out of your fucking mind?!” Giovanni spat, barely holding on to his thin thread of control.

“You said she didn’t have protection because we weren’t married.”

“No, I said she didn’t have protection because she wasn’t family.”

I shrugged. “Same thing.”

“So what’s going to happen after this is all over, Enzo? We don’t believe in divorce.”

I wanted to call him a hypocrite, considering he had just recently divorced his wife, but I figured it was smarter to keep my mouth shut.

He ran a hand down his face before turning around in his chair and grabbing a bottle of scotch off the shelf. I watched as he poured himself a glass and drank it in one gulp. It was silent in the office since we were the only ones at his nightclub. The club wasn’t open yet, but this was where Giovanni did most of his work. Anytime one of the capos needed to meet with him, we could almost guarantee he’d be here.

“I tracked down the asshole who sold the brothel to Raven. The Irish paid him to sell the brothel to someone else and disappear so that they could lie and say the brothel had a debt on it. There’s never been a debt. They’re trying to extort as much money as possible from her before they take the girls and sell them on the black market.”

I’ve been thinking to come up with a solution. The only thing that made sense was to offer them money, but I wasn’t even sure if they’d take it.

Giovanni let out a frustrated breath. “I’ll set up a meeting with Connor. I’ll let you know the time and place. We’ll offer five hundred thousand, not a penny more.”

I didn’t think they were going to accept it. Sex trade was a multi-billion dollar industry. They could get more than five hundred thousand for one girl, but Giovanni was meeting me halfway, so I agreed.

“Now get the fuck out of my office,” he said.

I got up from the chair and walked out before he could change his mind. The office opened up to a private lounge area, and I crossed the room before taking the back stairwell outside. My phone rang. Cal’s name flashed across the screen. I picked up as I got into my car.

“Boss,” Cal said.

“What’s up?”

“Your girl is freaking out. She keeps throwing shit and wouldn’t stop until I called you,” he said, his voice holding an apology in it.

Fuck, she’s crazy, but I love her for it.

“Put her on the phone.”

Something rustled on the other end of the line before her voice came through.

“They took Erica!” Her voice broke as she spoke, as if on the edge of tears. My body went rigid as I thought about someone making my wife cry.

“Erica? From the brothel?” I asked.

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