Page 45 of Unforgivable Ties

Felix laughed, the sound raw and grating. “Sure, you’d rather be playing house with your little girlfriend.”

Fuck. It looked like Ettore had been gossiping as much as Dino.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Oh. It’s going to be awkward when you stop fucking and she lives in your house,” he said, a sleazy chuckle escaping his lips.

“We’re not fucking,” I said firmly. “Jesus, when did you and Ettore turn into Dino?”

Felix just shrugged, brushing off my annoyance with a careless flick of his wrist. “Anyway, we’ve got bigger problems.”

“Well, we’re not talking about it out here,” I said, indicating the teeming crowd of drunks, dancers and potential loose-lipped barflies.

I followed him through the throng of bodies and to the back hallway, where the music was just a dull throb and the lights weren’t strobing. The smell of sweat and spilled alcohol was less potent, but the scent of perfume was strong as we passed by the girls changing room.

Felix led me to a room at the end of the hall, the sign on the door simply read ‘Private.’ He pulled out a set of keys from his pocket, unlocked the door, and gestured for me to go in. It functioned as his office, but I had no doubt he fucked girls in here on a regular basis. I eyed the seats warily, wishing I had a black light. I reluctantly took a seat on the edge of the couch and watched as Felix poured himself a whiskey from a decanter that was far too nice for a place like this.

“There’s been some rumors going around about The Surgeon,” he said.

“The Surgeon?” I echoed, my brows furrowing.

I wasn’t sure what those rumors could be. The man was easy to work with; we extracted the organs from corpses, shipped them off with his cronies, and got paid. He was a man of secrecy, and not much was known about him.

“Yeah,” Felix said, the amusement in his eyes replaced by a steely hardness. He swirled the whiskey around in his glass before knocking it back. “Word on the street is he’s involved in something else. Something way more ruthless than our organ business.”

“There’s not much that’s more ruthless than buying and selling illegal organs,” I pointed out, crossing my arms over my chest. I had seen things that would make even the strongest stomach churn in my mafia career.

“True,” Felix conceded, leaning forward with an ominous look in his eyes. “But have you ever heard of human trials?”

I blinked at him, momentarily taken aback. “Human trials? Like, medical testing?”

Felix nodded, his gaze hard and serious. “Worse. We’re talking about testing advanced drugs, experimental procedures, and untested technologies on live subjects.”

“That’s fucking disgusting,” I said. “But it’s not for us to stick our nose in. We have an agreement with him, and it’s the end of it.”

“But Leone used to provide him with live bodies until Ettore took over,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “The Surgeon has a lot of power. Who’s to say he won’t use that and try to strong arm us into getting live bodies again?”

I was silent, mulling over Felix’s words. Of course there was a possibility, but it was slim.

“Just keep it in mind,” Felix said. “I know you work with Cesare on that side of our operations, but the old man is as blind as a bat when it comes to the Surgeon. He idolizes him.”

That’s how Stephanie got dragged into this mess in the first place. Cesare was taking on too many extractions for The Surgeon, and didn’t have enough time to patch up our men.

“I’ll keep it in mind,” I said, getting up from the sofa.

“Alright,” Felix said, waving me off. “See you.”

I bid him goodbye and walked back down the hall. Just as I passed the door where the strippers get ready, a redhead walked out and accidentally ran into me. She tripped and fell into me, her sparkly lingerie still shining under the hall light.

“Ah, sorry!” she said, using my arms to steady herself.

“It’s fine,” I said gruffly.

She didn’t let go. Her eyes roamed over my body, and I could tell she recognized who I was. Her gaze flickered with a mix of fear and fascination.

“Have you finished work for the night?” she asked, running one hand from my biceps to chest.

I knew what she wanted. She was cute, but nowhere near as cute as Stephanie. But they had the same hair...I could bend her over and pretend I was fucking Stephanie.

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