Page 17 of Duchess

Grabbing me by the hand, she dragged me into her corner office and sat me down. The space made me smile. It was extremely contemporary with white couches and a white shaggy rug where a giant silver Lab lay staring at us both.

I stared back at his big hazel eyes, and she laughed. “Don’t mind Legend, he won’t bother you.”

She handed me a brandy glass and smiled. “Not unless I tell him to.”

I rolled my eyes and continued to make my way around her office, detailing her large glass desk and leather chair. The office looked right out onto the floor where you could see the dollar bills flying.

Roulette came and stood beside me. “Girls get all they make on stage. I get what comes in at the door and the bar. Their job is to make sure those men spend money at that bar, or the private lounges.”

“Looks like you’ve got a good deal here.”

“It’s alright. It’s all owned by the Hellbound Lovers. My Uncle helped me purchase it.”

“I’m sure he’s thrilled with what you’ve done with the place.”

She laughed. “Not much he can do. It makes money and they get a cut. It's also a safe haven. Anyone who steps on Hellbound Lovers territory gets the benefits of not getting killed.”

I nodded. “Good deal.”

I sat down across from her on the couches and set my brandy glass down on the pure black concrete coffee table that sat in the center of the room.

“Why are you here, Stephanie?” Roulette was good at being blunt and addressing the elephant in the room.

I paused for a moment before responding. “I need your help.”

She frowned and scooted up in her chair. “What’s wrong?”

“Alan got himself killed nearly twenty-four hours ago.”

“Well, shit. Always knew he was bad news.”

I gave her a stern look. “Thanks.”

“He may have been bad news but he left me with a shit ton of money. Money that technically isn’t mine. Money I’m pretty sure he’d been skimming off the top from jobs he did for the Turks.”

“Fuck.”

I nodded. “But there’s someone else. Alan was working with a man; Obsidian calls him Killian. He’s offered the Duchess a deal to set up a secured pick-up location to get rid of the product, in exchange for help in getting the Turks off our ass.”

“The Duchess?”

“It's a code name I go by when handling money for the Turks in the black market. I didn’t want to use my real name although Alan shit on my privacy when he gave security my entire identity when I first started.. Let’s just say he fucked me over in more ways than I could count. I now have to sell a stolen Turkish shipment worth millions that Alan hid in a warehouse in Los Angeles. I need to do this without the Turks knowing, without the cops finding us out, and I need to do it quietly and quicklybefore time runs out. I get these clients what they paid for, and I get my freedom. But I can’t do it without your connections.”

“Motherfucker!”

She stood and began to pace. “How much money?”

“A lot of money.”

“And what are you going to do with all that money?”

“I haven’t thought that far into it yet.”

“What was in the shipment?”

“Motorcycles. Top of the line.”

“Holy shit,” she looked back at me. “Harleys?”

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