Page 12 of Lies like Rubies, Part One

“As long as you keep your word to me,” he continued.

“Anything,” I whispered. “I promised you anything.”

“And you’ll deliver,” he vowed.

6

DANTE

Was thereanything as sad as a low-rent strip club? Desperate and lonely men frittered away money they couldn’t afford to lose. They sought the shallow companionship of a woman performing for cash rather than going home to their families, only to wake up hungover and poorer the following day.

“Boss, if you’re not going to pay attention to her, let her go serve other customers,” José said as he dropped into the seat beside me, loose-limbed and comfortable.

I’d called over the blonde woman on a whim, thinking she’d distract me from the angry blue eyes I couldn’t forget, the lush, ruby lips that dripped such delicious lies. How long had the stripper stood there while I thought about Sofia’s satin skin under my fingers, her hot, wet mouth sucking my cock?

Fucking hell.

“What do you have for me?” I asked, flipping through the tablet he handed me, amused by his use of technology.

José shook his head. “Not nearly as much as I’d hoped. As far as I can tell, Russo was telling the truth. She hasn’t seen Accardi since he returned. He tried to surprise her at her kid’s doctor’s office, but she got away.”

I skimmed the footage of Sofia’s terrified face running through the corridors of the office, then of a blond man escorting her to his car and driving away.

“Whoa there, don’t break it.” José rescued the tablet when my grip tightened so hard it bent the screen. “She’s bad news, boss. All of these families are—drugs, arms, smuggling, tax evasion, plus they’re fucking criminals.”

I laughed. My American operation was legal, more or less—strip clubs, casinos, and office buildings, primarily for laundering money. I paid José good money to keep me out of trouble, so I couldn’t complain when he tried to do his job. “We’re criminals too, José.”

“Not like these fuckers,” he muttered. “Accardi came back two years ago,” José continued. “Just before he came to work for you. Visited her, then took off again.”

Did he return to Italy on her command or because she’d refused him?

“And the pediatrician?” I asked.

“Nicolò Lombardi is clean as a goddamned whistle, except he is one kinky motherfucker. No prior connection to Accardi.”

My eyes shot to José’s, who grinned widely. He knew what I liked. He’d helped me procure partners when in the States before, and no doubt would do so again.

“What about the money?”

“Most of it’s in accounts in her name or her daughter’s.”

“Accardi needs to marry her to get access to that money. But why steal it in the first place?”

José took the tablet and swiped through to a new dossier. “The Costas.”

Whose empire crumbled without access to the port because of their cold war with the Russos.

“They traffic in girls,” José said, his lip curling with disgust.

Oh, Americans and their odd sense of morality. Fine to import a thousand pounds of heroin but bring in a few girls to sweeten a business deal? Horrific.

“How are they getting them in and out if they can’t access the port?”

As a scantily clad woman refreshed our drinks, her breasts brushed against my shoulder. For a moment, I considered taking what she offered and was surprised at how distasteful I found the idea. No, I wanted Sofia Russo on her knees and sobbing her heart out, willing to do anything to please me, no matter how much I humiliated her.

“Working on it, boss. I’d have more information if you’d given me more warning.”

For the first time that night, I turned my gaze to inspect José. He was all lean muscle, tattoos covering every visible bit of skin except his face, including his shaved head.

---