Page 86 of The Viper

“Not Adrian.” I shake my head. “I called Ruben.” I slide into the back of the car and Marco closes the door. I try Adrian again, but he’s not answering the phone. “Something’s wrong. Adrian’s not picking the phone up.”

“Fuck, has he been pinched?” Marco turns to face me from the front.

“I don’t know.” I lean my elbow on the side of the door and stare out the window. Scrubbing my hand against my stubble, I should be thinking about finding Adrian, but I’m more worried about my girl. “Call the men who are looking after Rosa and Eliza. They need to stay vigilant.”

Marco nods, lifts his phone and makes several calls.

My teeth grind together as I keep an ear out in case something’s happened to my girl. “The girls are safe,” Marco says.

The thoughts going through my mind are murderous. I’ll kill anyone who dares try to take my woman. I’ll set the world on fire if I have to. I don’t care.

Frank pulls up in front of Heaven. It’s unusual for me to be here so early in the day. What’s more unusual is how quiet the street is. Once out of the car I head inside and up to the office. Ruben has yet to arrive. I sit at the desk and log into the computer so I can pull the security feed up of where the safe is. I rewind from now until I find what I’m looking for. A masked figure waltzes in, unlocks the safe with the code, opens a duffel bag and sweeps all the money into it. They close the safe, and leave. They knew exactly what they were doing, and did it without hesitation.

“Dominic,” Ruben’s voice is low although it carries authority.

“Uncle.” I stand and gesture toward the chair next to the desk.

“Problems?”

“First, I can’t get a hold of Adrian.”

Ruben’s brows draw in and he turns toward Dante and lifts his chin. Silently, he gives the command before turning back to me. Ruben has contacts all over the country. “And?”

“Lust, Heaven and Sunset Hotel have all been hit.”

Ruben crosses his arms in front of his chest as he takes a deep breath. “Are the girls okay at Sunset?”

“Only the safes have been targeted.” I rewind to where the thief came in, and stole from Heaven. “Here.” I roll the footage. “I haven’t had a chance to have a look at the other two places. But, give me a moment.” I log into the security system of Lust, and rewind to the same time stamp as when Heaven was hit. Ruben and I watch the same thing, almost like they’re a carbon copy of what happened here. “They’re wearing the same mask, and same dark clothing. They’re even of a similar build.” I shake my head and log into the security of the Sunset Hotel. Ruben and I watch and find the same thing at the hotel. “They were in and out without any hesitation.”

“It’s someone close. Someone who knows the business and who has all the codes.”

“Mr. Sacco,” Dante announces once he returns to the room. We both look over to him, and he shakes his head.

What has Adrian done? “Fuck,” I murmur and shake my head.

“My nephew seems to have disappeared.”

I lift my arm and lean my elbow on the desk as I rub at the tension thumping behind my eyes. “Adrian might be behind all of this.”

“Why?” Ruben unfolds his arms and stands. He remains calm as he walks over to the large window that overlooks the normally packed dance floor and peers down. “Dominic?”

“The ledger.” I slide it over toward the edge of the desk. “I was going to bring it to you this morning, but all this happened, so I have it here now.”

Ruben turns and sees it sitting on the desk. “What’s in it?” He picks it up and flicks to the last page.

“The two cocaine shipments that each had sixty pounds go missing. Adrian and Tony were there for them.”

“Of course they’re going to be there, because that’s his job,” Ruben says, still in a controlled, low tone.

“This club, Lust, and Sunset Hotel have all had problems with balancing the books.”

Ruben continues to flick through the ledger, stopping on certain pages and running his gaze down them. He stops and lifts his eyes toward me. “I know.”

“I knew of Heaven, but not of Lust and the Sunset. I found that out this morning.”

“I know everything that happens, Dominic.” He runs his tongue over his teeth, and places the ledger on the desk. “The only thing I didn’t know was if you were in on it too.” Shit, so I’m right. Adrian is doing something he shouldn’t be. “That wasn’t a question.” My brows draw up as I stare at Ruben. He turns to look at Dante. “Get over to his house.”

“Yes, sir,” Dante responds before leaving the office.

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