Chapter 99

I make a mental note to scan the member profiles and memorise his face for arrival, so I can greet him myself. The personal touch is always a good angle for ego brushing.

‘’Last two on the list, no girls and no blow … just booze and royalty treatment. Put them in the upstairs VIP lounge and close it off so no one can stray up there without an access card. They want privacy.’’ Alexi is in all business approach and I can handle him when he’s like this. Focused, emotionally stable and completely disinterested in me. ‘’Carreros?’’ I catch the last two names and blink up at him in surprise.

‘‘My father and uncle, they’re coming by to see what I have built here. I trust their counsel and I respect their opinions, both still have a hand in our family’s responsibilities so I want them treated as such. They are meeting some business acquaintances that are booked in here, so mostly I want them left alone.’’

I look back at the list, Giovanni and Dimitri and I nod, completely intrigued that I am about to meet two of his peers who are not only important to him but direct blood links. His father, the man who moulded him, and I have heard Giovanni mentioned by Mico before, the uncle who plays a silent role but is still very much embroiled. Interesting.

‘’But no girls?’’ I repeat to be sure.

‘‘No. No girls.’’

‘’Boys?’’ I wink mischievously, despite my reservations around him and I smile naughtily, dropping it when I see the furious glare thrown my way. Alexi is okay with gay, but it seems not when daddy and uncle are the centre of the joke.

I clear my throat and look away from the intensity of those greys trying to impale me and lose my inkling of jest. Reminding myself that an anally retentive psycho stands before me.

‘‘No boys. No drugs. They don’t partake, just treat them like they matter more than anyone else in here tonight, and you won’t piss me off.’’

‘‘I didn’t think that was possible.’’ I joke sarcastically, mouth over brain and then sigh at myself for this inability to just stop trying to get a rise out of him. I lose my bravado, face paling as I catch yet another unimpressed look thrown at me and go back to my list. So much for wearing my mask of sassy and indifference. Like all my best-laid plans … they go to shit when faced with him.

‘‘Any kink requests that I need to cover?’’ I go back to flicking the papers, diverting his rage and note it’s mostly invoices for deliveries due today and some little hints on client requests … Caviar and oysters for room fifteen.

For the love of God, sometimes this feels like a hotel and not a brothel of sorts.

‘’Taylor … room four. He’s bringing some of his own whores tonight, so whatever he does to them in his own room, as long as they are not ours then do not intervene. Brief security, he wasn’t impressed with our safe word policy and the limits on what he can do to the girls and this is the compromise.’’ Alexi actually sounds annoyed at that, strangely.

‘’Why can’t he just do that shit in his own club if he wants to torture women, instead of leaving his mess here for us to clean up?’’ I bite, unusually piqued with sudden anger.