FOUR

Dante.

“I told you bringing in the girls would make a huge difference, look how much we’ve made in two months.” Luca my brother gloated, making himself comfortable on the sofa across from me. “That bastard, Calista can eat his words.”

Two months ago, he came up with the idea of buying girls from “The Echo.” It was an organized crime syndicate involved in all forms of criminal activities.

I wasn’t innocent, I had my methods but I preferred to distance myself from certain crimes, trafficking being one of them but when Luca brought up the statistics of the New York casino, I knew we had to consider alternatives. 

Calista was a new money dirt bag who thought because he stumbled on money, he was suddenly an equal and a worthy opponent but that’s the thing with people like him, their loyalty was to money. 

In the mafia, our loyalty was to family, to one another before money or possessions. We had codes governing our acts and there are things we would never get involved in as a family.

These new birds, they’ll do whatever it takes to be seen as powerful, nothing governing their acts and there was no weaker man like the one without discipline. 

So when Luca made it known to me that Calista was actively stealing our customers with offers for a night of pleasure with one of his many girls, I didn’t bother playing his game. I ran a casino not a whore house and women were too complex for me to employ, I preferred to run my business without their hormones interfering. 

I only valued a woman’s presence between the sheets and the only time I would care for what she’s saying was if she was either moaning or asking me to go faster. Even then, I still do as I wish. 

I was averse to the idea until the statistics from the casinos came in and the New York branch was the least performing by a huge margin. 

I would never understand how men let themselves and their every desire be controlled by a woman, it’ll forever remain a curious thing to me. 

I had no choice but to give into Luca’s suggestions. I gave him the go ahead to purchase whoever and whatever he wanted to purchase.

However, in an unexpected turn of events, I  happened to be conducting a business meeting at “The Echo” on the night of the auction and one thing led to another and I ended up purchasing one of the girls. 

It was something I need solely to ascertain a level of dominance, I was one of the top shareholders of the club anyways.

There was something about her that made me pick her. Unlike the girls before her, she did not look like a lamb that was led to the slaughter.

 Her eyes were sharp and her overall demeanor had a hint of defiance in them. I was intrigued and when she was finally stripped to be sold, I could see her bringing in good amount of money. 

“Alright Luca, you were right. The girls helped.” I admitted, focusing my gaze on the screen in front of me.

“Helped?  I think they did a lot more than that. Come on, you can say it…” he pushed, trying to earn a word of praise from me. 

“You know you’ll have better luck at getting the pope to sin that you do at getting him to admit someone else’s idea was much better than his.” Enzo, my best friend invited himself into the conversation as he walked into my office.

“I must say, there’s been some form of improvement. Who would have thought a few girls would’ve turned things around. Good job Luca, you should handle the entertainment part of things while your brother focuses on the more………intricate parts of the business.”

“Not many people would speak of me being incompetent and live to tell the story.” I warned. 

“Ah, but no one said you were incompetent. I just advised you stick to a certain side of things.” Enzo replied, making himself comfortable with a glass of scotch.

He always had that easy charm and confidence going on for him and can walk into any room without protection, cause absolute mayhem and be out unscathed and the people would love him even more. 

He did not concern himself with security details and never looked back while walking away, even if you held a gun to his back. It’s what made him the best lawyer and negotiator anyone could think of. 

“They helped. It’s not as if he invented some idea no one ever thought of. It’s just women, they’re all over the place.” 

“I would greatly disagree with you. For instance, your pole girl, I’ve never seen anything like her. I even placed a bid but this guy with the scar wasn’t backing down.” Enzo countered, taking Luca’s recently vacated spot on the sofa.

I threw him an incredulous look. I would never understand spending an outrageous amount of money on pussy. It wasn’t simply worth it in my opinion. 

I tore my attention from the horny deadbeat in front of my and switched the camera from the Casino hall to the private lounge. 

I’d been told the pole dance was bringing in a lot of money and it was time I saw what was going on for myself. 

I had hidden cameras monitoring every room in the club despite our promises of privacy. They made for wonderful blackmail materials.

The room was so dim you’d have to look closely to see what was going on but my keen eyes could spot a large looking man and a rather small girl, they looked to be engaged in……… the fuck?!

“Dante? Is everything okay?” Enzo asked, making his way to my side of the desk. “You rotten bastard,” he teased. “That’s what you do in here, watching people get at it………wait, what the heck? What is she doing?” He practically shoved me off the way to get a closer look at the screen.

I didn’t need anymore confirmation. All I could feel was red hot rage coursing through my veins.

 No one messed with my business. Not even my rivals were that stupid.

“Oh Shit.” Enzo muttered, taking in the expression on my face.