Page 27 of A Game of Secrets

“Everything alright Boss?” Dan eyes me suspiciously as he pours me out another drink.

“Never better,” I respond through gritted teeth as the burn hits the back of my throat once more.

He nods in acknowledgement. He’s a smart man and knows that is the only answer he’s getting from me and not to push it so he pours me out another drink before leaving to attend to a group of ladies waiting at the other end of the bar, all excitedly giggling to each other and eager to spend their husbands hard earned money in my casino. Now that, I won't object to.

Leaving the bar with a warm buzz now running through my veins, I pull out my phone and dial my fathers number. He’s been avoiding me ever since Silas returned and snuffed out Ricky at our meeting last week for getting him locked up. I can’t say I blame him, the prick had it coming and my father knows the business, he knows the consequences. He answers almost immediately. “Lincoln,” his tone short and slightly hostile.

“Father,” I respond with the same edge to my voice.

“What can I do for you, Son?” he questions. I walk outside into the blistering sun still peaking out on the horizon and pull my packet of cigarettes from my inside pocket, lighting one up and taking a long satisfying drag before answering.

“Have you made sure the necessary arrangements are in place for the drop off on Tuesday night? Silas is back now, your men can not afford to fuck this up again. He won’t be so lenient on you a second time.” I say through gritted teeth, knowing the full extent of Silas’ promises when he is crossed after handing out a second chance. The man may boil my blood but he is still that, my blood, and I feel it’s required of me to make sure he has a heads up, to at least give him a fighting chance. If he fucks it after my warning, then that’s on him. I hear him chuckle deeply to himself down the phone line and the sound raises the hairs on the back of my neck.

“Don’t worry Lincoln, he may be the big bad boss in charge right now but I have been in this business a lot longer than the both of you. All is confirmed, the shipment will be collected at ten thirty exactly and I will be there to oversee it myself.”

I nod as I pull in another drag on my cigarette. “Just don’t fuck it up this time.” I say, the words void of any emotion. I hang up the phone and look out towards the sun slowly setting along the back of the city lights, a sudden unease seeping into my skin that I refuse to acknowledge

“Boss,” Felix cuts in as he appears behind me, snapping me out of my daydream. I turn to look at him, his face serious as a heart attack. “There’s something you might want to see.”

Fuck sake, what now?I think to myself as I fill my lungs with air and breathe out heavily before pulling on my cigarette for the last time then stubbing it out against the wall.

“Show me.” I say, blowing the smoke between my lips and straightening my suit jacket. He turns back and makes his way towards the private door at the back of the casino, weaving carefully between the throng of people now occupying the space. Straight through the door, I follow Felix down the private corridors hidden below the surface and into the surveillance room. A whole wall in front of us covered top to bottom in screens delivering a live feed straight to us from the floors above. I'm like a God down here, with an all seeing eye, nothing ever goes unseen in my world.

Felix sits at the desk in front of me, taps a few keys on the keyboard and pulls up the feed from one of the VIP booths. I watch silently as he rewinds the footage by roughly ten minutes and presses play. A scene plays out before me of a group of six men, all looking to be around the age of thirty, maybe a little younger, all gathered into a booth in the VIP section at the bar. The lights are low in the bar at this time of the evening allowing for live musicians, comedy acts and cabaret dancers to perform on stage with the spotlights trained on them. But even with the lights down and their feeble attempt at hiding it. I can see exactly what they're doing as they each take cover behind the rest of the group and snort a line of cocaine discreetly from the table. Drugs are absolutely not tolerated in my casino, there are no exceptions. Fury builds in me once again.

I snap at Felix, making him jump. "Bring it back to real time," I order. He does so within seconds and the image is replaced with the group of men that have now been joined by the ladies I spotted earlier at the bar. "For fuck sake," I groan inwardly knowing this is going to be a pain to handle if the women get involved too. They’re always so much more feisty than men.

"Sully, Zack, come with me," I say, turning towards the two men who are already raring to go, their faces glow with delight. "Felix, stay here and keep your eyes on them. If any of them give us the slip, I want to know exactly where they're going." Felix nods in understanding and turns back to face the screen. "Come on boys, these men obviously need their fucking heads cracking. Thinking they can bring drugs to my tables." I lead the way back up to the main casino floor, Zack and Sully tailing right behind me.

Moments later we arrive at the bar. "Gentlemen,'' I announce, holding my hands out in front of me as if in a welcoming gesture. Their faces pale at the sight of me before them, flanked by Zack and Sully who stand stoic besides me. "Ladies, I suggest that you leave." I say, casting my gaze over the women who had joined the group, authority laced in my voice. I don't need to ask again as they all look to one another, grab their drinks and purses immediately slipping past us as they scoot as fast as seemingly possible away from the booth. Well, that was much easier than I thought it would be. I'll make sure Dan gets them a complimentary bottle of champagne for the inconvenience, they still need to have a good night after all. As soon as I'm sure the ladies are out of ear shot I begin.

"Now gentlemen, it riles me to know that you would even THINK that you could get away with sniffing that shit in my casino." One of the group opens his mouth to protest and I hold my hand up, cutting him off. "Do not take me for an idiot, I have surveillance footage of you. So this can go one of two ways. You boys either play nice, hand over your shit and leave my casino right now or I let my men here get their knuckles bloody." A friendly smile pulls at my lips. "So what do you say?"

The biggest of the group, and the one who tried to interrupt me squares his shoulders in an attempt I find hugely comedic as he tries to make himself seem more intimidating, "Don't know what the fuck you're talking about," he stands, throwing his arms out trying to make a scene. I glance at Sully and he moves forward, grabbing him behind his head and slamming his face straight down into the table. The rest of the group gasp but choose to remain quiet.

"You broke my nose you fucking dick!" he spits as blood pours between his teeth and he pinches the top of his nose to try and stub the bleeding. I shrug my shoulders, Sully beaming from ear to ear ready and eager to cause more damage.

"Now, would anybody else like to hand it over?" I ask again. The rest of the group exchange questioning looks with each other before one of them reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a small bag of white powder. He hands it over, visibly shaking as he does.

"Good boy," I smirk before I turn to leave, there won't be as much of a fight as I was expecting, and honestly I think I’m a little disappointed by their lack of manhood to stand up for themselves, but whatever, they’d lose in a matter of seconds. "Search them, throw them out and make sure they don't come back." I instruct Zack and Sully who grin at each other at their given task. I smile while I walk away, having every bit of faith that my men will do whatever is necessary to get the job done and I head back down to my office to lock up.

I've just about had enough for one day and Alessandro has been nagging me for ages to watch a baseball game with him on the TV, so that's exactly what I'm going to do.

As I leave, I shout to Felix, who’s still scanning over the CCTV in the surveillance room, to make sure that a round of drinks is being organized for the ladies’ co-operation earlier. I tell him to give them whatever they want, on-the-house and remind him to make sure to call me if there's any trouble. If there isn't I don’t want to be bothered, I need to spend time with my son. He nods his understanding and with my full trust in my men to handle whatever the night brings, I sprint up the stairs and head home for the night.

Chapter 16

Lucille

My stomach has been in knots all week about tonight. I've hardly been able to focus at work. Kat has noticed something is a little off too and has been keeping a close eye on me, constantly asking if I'm okay. I know she thinks it's Vinny, but for the moment I have to let her think it is. Max would never forgive me if I told her the truth. I've never been to one of the clubs' fight nights. I've tried my hardest to stay out of that side of Max's business for Teddy's sake and Max makes sure he keeps us out of it too. I know he wouldn't have asked unless he was desperate.

I glance at the clock, Max will be here in a couple of hours to pick me up, I need to drop Teddy off at Kat's for the night. "Are you ready, little man?" I call out to him as I make my way to his bedroom, pushing his door open.

"Almost Mommy," he replies through huffed little breaths as he tries to stuff Little B into his backpack. I cannot help but smile.

"Come here," I say as I walk over to help "there we go, all done." I say as I manage to squeeze the zipper shut and receive a celebratory round of applause from Teddy. "Are you excited for your movie night with Bella?" I ask as we make our way out the front door.

"YESS!" he shouts, flinging his arms up in the air in excitement before looking up at me "Do you think Auntie Kat will have popcorn?" he asks, his eyes full of longing.

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