Page 46 of The Enforcer

I tugged on the sleeve of my tuxedo jacket as we were escorted into the building. Immediately, the powerful vibrations from the intense dance beat assaulted my senses. There was no reason for this particular club opening to mean anything different than the others.

We were surrounded by beautiful, wealthy people determined to enjoy a catered evening of expensive champagne and caviar, pretending their importance was all that mattered.

To me, the night represented months of diligent work, intense discussions, and finally the use of blackmail to achieve the corporation’s goals.

In the end and through my expertise in handling difficult people, we’d become the talk of the town. I was proud of my accomplishments although an ominous shadow had been cast earlier in the day.

Murder inside my own club was an unexpected and unwanted christening.

No one had a clue about the blood that had taken two hours to scrub from the floor or the quick fix provided by a contractor for the bullet lodged in the bar. He’d been paid well to keep his silence.

Neither exploitive news nor failure was acceptable at this point.

Then there was the lovely woman creating quite a stir walking in front of me. She’d already made her pushback obvious, acting as if I was a simple man who’d easily let her go. She had no idea what I was capable of or what I was prepared to do to get what I wanted.

Even though devious thoughts continued trickling through my twisted mind, she wasn’t a casual fling or someone whose life I could ruin without guilt. She was a healer, a woman of high integrity. She was also a challenge. As much as I wanted to break down her defenses, to continue hearing her scream my name in passion, I wasn’t entirely certain I was prepared to force her into anything.

But I was thinking about it.

“You’re a very popular man,” Valencia said.

“It’s the club.”

“Please. Did you see the way the women were staring at you the moment you stepped from the limousine?”

I crowded her space, inhaling the exotic scent of her perfume, which was different than it had been the night before. The club goers were already dancing, the DJ mixing heavy dance beats, one drifting into another seamlessly. The moment I spun her around, the beads on her fantastic dress spun a luminescent arc of light. Goddamn, the woman was beautiful.

“I almost took out a couple men leering at you.”

She gave me the very stern look that always tightened my balls. “You can’t go beating up everyone who looks in my direction.”

“Why not?”

“Because that won’t keep you on the most eligible bachelor list.”

“As if I care to be on such a list.”

“You might when you’re looking for the perfect woman to spend the rest of your life with.” She lifted her eyebrows. She was testing me on purpose.

“Mmm… Unnecessary.”

“One day you’ll need to tell me why. Not tonight. We agreed tonight is meant for celebration.” She pressed her fingers across my lips and I couldn’t help myself, pulling both into my mouth.

Her eyes were filled with surprise.

“Such a bad boy,” she whispered.

I bit down on her fingers before pulling them free. “Yes, I am.”

She pushed me away with one hand, continuing to walk through the crowd. A strange feeling settled into my system. I glanced at Luca who also seemed to be sensing the same thing. Perhaps I was just on edge after the experience with the supposed American assassin.

Neither Dimitrios nor I believed the man was from New York. His admittance had been too easy. So far, none of our sources of obtaining information had led to the man’s true identity. The fingerprints I’d had Elias take before disposing of the body had yet to come back. Unfortunately, I had a feeling nothing wouldbe found. As soon as hacking had become prominent within criminal societies, identities had become easy to wipe clean.

The function was used more often than any law enforcement agency realized.

From Interpol to the CIA, few organizations had any idea the power of control being balanced in criminal hands.

Our family wasn’t immune to the tactics. While we were becoming more legitimized, we’d learned with Leandro’s death that abandoning what our father had taught us along with what technology could offer would only mean additional targets on our heads.

---