Page 79 of Now and Forever

“Good morning.” I needed to learn his name.

Camila’s eyes were wide as saucers.

Dario and Giovanni approached, coming from the direction of the elevators. Dressed in a dark blue suit, my husband was the epitome of a dangerous businessman. He exuded power and determination. Those qualities should frighten me, but they did the opposite. As he came closer, I noticed there was something in his usually unreadable expression that added to my concern.

“Welcome,” he greeted stiffly before brushing my cheek with a kiss. “I need to speak to Armando.” He motioned to Giovanni. “He’ll show you three around. The place is mostly empty. Just cleaning crew. The chefs will be in the kitchen soon. Secondary entrances are locked, and no one is getting past Enzo.”

Enzo.

My neck stiffened with Dario’s too-thorough details.

Camila squeezed my hand. Her eyes were still opened wide. “This place is amazing.” She turned a complete circle. “Oh my gosh. Can you imagine what it’s like with lights, music, and people?”

“Let’s start with the dance floor,” Giovanni said.

My attention was with my husband and Armando. Whatever they were discussing was not sitting well with my bodyguard.

“Mrs. Luciano,” Giovanni said, requesting my attention.

For Camila, I feigned a smile and tried to enjoy our tour. It was everything I’d seen the time before, but in more detail. Armando and I hadn’t spent a lot of time on the first floor. Giovanni took us into a control room. There were monitors that rotated around the club.

“I thought Dario said that the customers don’t want to be recorded.”

Giovanni hit a few switches and the views changed. “The feed is live. No recording unless someone hits this” —he pointed at a switch.

I recalled the picture of Herrera that Dario had shown me. Of course they had ways of recording along with their live feed. There were three chairs in the small room. “Are there three people monitoring the surveillance all the time?”

“During business hours. No one is watching now, but starting about two this afternoon, the first guard will show up. Once the doors open, there are always three people in here. Too many different views for one person.”

“Are the back rooms monitored?” I asked.

“Only the hallways. You probably saw from Mr. Luciano’s office how you can see down into the hallways in the VIP section. The first-floor hallways are monitored through here.”

“This is so exciting,” Camila said. “May we see one of the back rooms?”

“No,” I said before Giovanni could speak. I shook my head. “I don’t want to see that.”

“It’s basically a small hotel room,” Giovanni said. “Nothing too exciting.”

Next, he took us into a large industrial kitchen, explaining that the one kitchen supplied food for all the different restaurants within the building. I had no idea they had such a large operation. After walking around the first floor, he led us up the staircase to the VIP section. He also explained the different club areas. He didn’t offer to take us up to the third floor where Dario’s office was located. When we arrived back at the first floor, Dario met us.

“Armando had to do an errand for me.” He looked at Giovanni. “He’ll stay with you the rest of the day.”

Something was happening. Dario wasn’t telling me what it was.

“Do you have plans?” he asked.

“We thought we’d go to the Intersection Arts District for lunch before heading to the airport.”

Dario kissed my cheek and spoke into my ear. “Do you have your knife?”

I nodded.

He took a step back and spoke louder, “Have a nice time.”

“That was so slay,” Camila said as we walked out to the SUV. “Why didn’t you want to see one of the back rooms?”

“Why would you?”

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