“Be sure you want to work for Victor,” he said his voice cold. “Because once you do there is no getting out of it. You will be at his mercy. You’ll be feared. You’ll be detested. You’ll be all alone. Forget about the people you love because they’ll never look at you the same. You won’t be respected and the life that maybe you thought you wanted will be your biggest nightmare.”
I didn’t say a word. What does someone say to that? He brushed past me and walked out the door, closing it quietly behind him. I fell onto the couch allowing Anthony’s words to sink in. I don’t know what happened to him. I don’t know where he went from eagerly working for Victor to hating that he did. His words made me wonder what exactly he had done for him and what had caused him ultimately to resent the man he worked for. The same man I had agreed to work for. The thing was I didn’t have to worry about the people I loved looking at me any kind of way. They were all dead. I’d probably be best suited for this job. Time would tell.
Chapter Six
So much for sleeping in and tripping up Victor’s plan to show me around Temptations. He and Jimmy were at Anthony’s house at eleven o’clock in the morning to pick me up and drive me to my new stomping grounds. The bastards didn’t even make a pit stop for coffee. I quickly learned these guys were all about business and making a buck.
Victor spared no expense when it came to Temptations. The contractors were still working on the final touches on a few things, but overall it was beautiful. Everything was modern and top of the line from the fixtures down to the stemware behind the bar. The bathrooms looked like something you’d see in an upscale hotel with their marble floors and granite counter tops. The lighting system alone had cost him fifty grand. God only knows what this whole venture had cost him if he had spent fifty thousand dollars on light bulbs. All right, so maybe they weren’t simply light bulbs, but shit, I bet a disco ball would’ve been cheaper and just as efficient.
When we arrived the guy, who was temporarily in charge started firing off some issues at Victor. The couches for the lounge were on back order and Rico still hadn’t made it his business to test out the sound system. Opening night was in a few weeks, which really didn’t leave much time for back orders, and jerk offs who didn’t do their job.
“Call the manufacturer back. Tell him I’m very disappointed and was hoping I wouldn’t have to pay him a visit,” Victor said. I studied him carefully watching as his fist clenched at his side and his jaw ticked. “I’ll deal with Rico personally.”
I don’t know why Victor hadn’t thrown Rico a beating yet. The guy was bad news. Even I could see that and I hadn’t been in his company all that much. There was something about his cocky, arrogant demeanor that rubbed me the wrong way. I pushed aside the fact that he was Nikki’s boyfriend and that he was all wrong for her.
Victor turned to me motioning for me to walk along with him as he walked through the club. “That’s Sal. He’s been running things for me here while I searched for a manager,” he smiled slightly. “Now that I’ve hired one he will resume his normal job, and you will take over.”
“What does he normally do?”
“Let’s just say he unloads cargo,” Victor said casually. He turned a corner and opened a door, stepping aside to allow me to enter first. I stopped dead in my tracks taking in the expanse of the oversized room. A large desk stood in front of a glass wall that overlooked the club. On the opposite wall, there were four flat screen televisions divided into four equal security screens monitoring every inch of the club. There was a large white leather sectional couch and across from that was an impressive bar similar to the main bar in the club.
“This is your office,” Victor said shocking me out of my thoughts. I turned around to stare at him. Was he out of his mind?
“This is my office?” I asked.
“If there is anything else you think it needs just let me know before the contractors’ finish. Of course, the bar will be stocked by opening night. There is going to be an intercom that is connected to security, the sound booth, and all of the bars. There is a safe built into the floor underneath the desk.”
A safe? Jesus. I was still marveling over the glass wall. How hadn’t I noticed that when we were in the main room?
It was as if Victor had read my mind because he walked over to the glass and knocked on it with his knuckles.
“It’s black on the other side so no one can see in,” he said helpfully. He cocked his head to the side and studied me for a moment. “You look confused.”
That was an understatement. I didn’t know the first thing about running a nightclub and if I was being perfectly honest up until five minutes ago, I took this whole thing as a joke. Clearly, that was not the case. Victor had high expectations of me. I better fucking deliver or fuck knows what he’d do to my sorry ass. I had to pull my shit together and put my game face on. I cleared my throat stepped towards the desk and sat down on one of the chairs positioned in front of it.
“What’s the deal with the safe?” I asked curiously.
“You’re going to be responsible for cashing out the club at the end of the night. That’s a lot of money son. Throughout the course of the night, you are going to collect money from the registers at the bars. I don’t want too much money sitting in those drawers. I have many enemies Michael any one of them would not think twice about hurting one of the bartenders and robbing me. That being the most likely scenario I won’t tell you the worst case scenario. The way I see it this can go a few different ways. I’m not going to have you walking around carrying that kind of money by yourself. So, either you have a guard with you one of my guys or you carry a piece.”
A piece?
“You mean a gun?” I said, leaning back in the chair trying to figure out how I felt about that. I watched as he unbuttoned his suit jacket, pulling out the chair behind the desk to sit down. He crossed his leg over his knee and leaned back. I had never seen a more confident, relaxed, or controlled man in my life.
“Yes,” he said simply.
“I meant what I said I want to give you a legit job I don’t want to corrupt you and have you work the streets. Your mother would be rolling over in her grave and I’m not so sure that your father wouldn’t either. However, you are working for me and I will not take any chances. You are connected to me Michael whether you like it or not my enemies will become your enemies. I will not have you become a casualty when I say I want you to carry a gun it is for your protection. I’m not suggesting it and giving you a list of people to use it on. I’m suggesting it so that if a situation arises, you’re not standing there with your dick in your hands helpless. You get what I’m saying?”
“Victor I’m not my father,” I felt at that moment it was time I made that clear. I think Vic saw me as a chance at reclaiming what he once had with my dad. Maybe he thought I’d be just like my old man, but the truth was having all this dumped on me, I wasn’t so sure I had the chops to be anything like my dad.
“I know that. I’m not expecting you to be your father,” he shook his head. “I don’t want you to be your father and by that, I mean I don’t want you dead either. It is your decision, but know that I would never ask you to use that gun unless you were in danger than I’d ask you to do whatever the fuck you had to do to protect yourself.”
“I don’t know how to use a gun,” I admitted. I tried to picture myself with a gun. Anthony had no emotion when he held it last night in his hands. He wasn’t afraid it would go off in his hand like I was or that I’d aim it at someone only to discover it wasn’t loaded. Wouldn’t that suck? So much for protecting yourself. By the time, I would have figured out that I forgot to load the fucking thing my brains would be splattered on the floor. Yeah, I don’t know how I feel about carrying a gun. Maybe I should start out small with a BB gun. I swiped my hand along my forehead. Jesus Christ, I was breaking out into a sweat.
“I’ll have Anthony take you to the shooting range get you licensed to carry and everything. I said I want you to be legit,
and I meant it,” he paused for a moment and I took the opportunity to study him. He looked torn almost as if he was wrestling with his conscience or something. “Michael, I want you to feel comfortable with what you will be doing. If you aren’t comfortable then I will hire a guard for you.”
Against my better judgment or the voices in my head, I replied quickly. “I can do it. I’ll carry the gun,” I wasn’t about to be dubbed a pussy who wouldn’t carry a gun and needed a babysitter. No, I was Michael Valente’s son how could I dishonor my father’s name like that. There was some sort of code or something that I felt I’d be betraying if I didn’t take Victor up on his offer. I felt as if I’d be embarrassing my old man. “Just get it registered and all that. I don’t see the problem if it’s a registered gun and I’m trained to use it. It’s for my own protection, right?”
“One hundred percent,” Victor said affirmatively.
“Okay then,” that settled that. “Is there anything else?” I desperately wanted to get the fuck out of there.
“Are you familiar with the nightclub scene?” Victor asked curiously.
Back home I wasn’t really a club-goer. There weren’t any clubs in our town anyhow, which meant if you wanted to go to one you would have a drive out of town to go to one. I was more a neighborhood bar type guy. Give me a beer and a pool table and I was happy.
“Not really,” I said, shrugging my shoulders as I did so.
“It’s probably a good idea if you go to a few other clubs in the city. You know get a feel for what the competitors have that draws in a crowd. I’ll tell Anthony to go with you. That guy needs a night or two out anyway,” he waited for a beat. “Or maybe Nikki, she’s always out hopping from club to club with that boyfriend of hers,” his lip twitched as he finished his sentence.
My lip curled in disgust at the mention of Nikki’s boyfriend, causing Victor to raise an eyebrow at me.
“I take it you’re not a fan?” he said, holding back a knowing smile.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m surprised you haven’t given that guy his walking papers,” I thought about it for a moment. “Or that she hasn’t either.”
“I try not to get involved in affairs of the heart anymore,” Victor said, turning around to stare at the glass wall. “I sabotaged my relationship with one daughter already not looking to do that again.”
So that’s why Victor was letting Rico get away with acting like a prick. It made sense, I suppose. He didn’t want to destroy his relationship with Nikki over a guy, especially since apparently, that had been the case with Adrianna. I wondered if it was her relationship with her son’s father or if it had been another guy. However, I was still baffled as to what Nikki saw in him. A girl like her could get any guy she wanted why she would settle for an arrogant jerk off like Rico was beyond me.
“There’s something else I want to make clear Michael,” Victor said, turning back around to face me. His facial expression had grown serious in a no nonsense type of way. Finally, the Victor I remembered emerged. I peered at him, wondering what had him so passionate with determination.
“People pass judgment on the man that I am they think I’m a monster and in some ways, I probably am. I don’t play by the rules and I walk a crooked line. However, there are things that I am adamant about not having in my businesses. There are things I won’t get involved with, you might think I’m a hypocrite, that’s fine, but I am telling you right now I will not have drugs in any of my establishments. I won’t stand for anyone pushing drugs in this club. I expect you to control that situation. I’m relying on you,” he said his eyes glued to mine.
“Wait a minute, you expect me to control who does drugs in this place? It’s a club…,” I started only to be cut off by him.
“That’s not what I’m saying. I won’t have anyone distributing in here the last thing I need is the DEA sniffing around me. It’s not going to be easy either. Kids these days will take anything they can get their hands on. They crush up pills and snort them in the bathroom. We don’t want anyone overdosing in our club either. People are going to do drugs the same way people are going to get piss drunk. The difference is we will supply the liquor, not the drugs. You follow me?”
I nodded. I was going to need to be sharp and on point every night my eyes were going to have to be all over the place. This wasn’t going to be a walk in the park for me. I needed to get my shit together because opening night would be here quicker than I thought and Victor had high expectations of me.
“Good. I think we’ve covered everything. You’ll be on your own tomorrow. If you have any questions, you can call Anthony or Sal. Jimmy and I will be out of town for a few days.”
“Okay,” I rose to my full height unsure how to proceed. Should I shake his hand? Victor made the decision walking around the desk to drape one of his arms around my shoulders as he escorted me to the door.
“Oh, I almost forgot! I want to surprise Nikki her birthday falls on the same day as the grand opening I put in a call to Rosalie’s Bakery they are making one of those fancy custom cakes for her. She doesn’t know anything about it. I want her night to be top of the line so if there is anything else you can think of just do it. Maybe live entertainment or something. I don’t know. I just want her to be surprised and happy.”
I may not have thought much of Victor but in that moment, he gained my respect as a father. I liked the idea of him being behind a special night for Nikki. I stepped out of the office turning around to be face to face with him. “I’ll figure something out,” I would. I wanted to be a part of her birthday to be a part of her special night. One way or another I’d figure out a way for that night to be something she never forgot.
“I don’t think Rico has anything planned, but you might want to run things by him,” Victor said, speaking the words as if it pained him to say them.
“I’ll handle him,” I said with a nod. I actually wouldn’t mind having a conversation with the little prick. “I’ve got this,” I said with determination. Victor smiled at me before I turned and walked out. I glanced around Temptations feeling an unfamiliar sense of purpose. I was being given an opportunity to make something out of this place. While I worked on making Temptations a brand and not just a watering hole, I could work on making myself a name. Maybe I wasn’t destined to just breeze through life without a purpose anymore. Victor was putting his faith in me and it dawned on me that maybe it was time I put a little faith in myself.
I was flipping through the movies on Netflix trying to decide on what to watch when my phone chimed signaling that I had a text message.
Rico: Hey Babe not going to make it. Last minute gig at the Pink Elephant. I’ll wake you when I get home.
I frowned throwing my phone onto the bed. He’ll wake me up when he gets home? Was he fucking serious? I untucked my legs from underneath me throwing them over the side of the bed. I glanced at myself in the mirror my hair piled high on my head in a messy bun. I was wearing Rico’s boxer shorts a lace camisole and leg warmers that were scrunched around my calves. I was dressed for a night in. A much needed night in with my boyfriend. So much for that. I wouldn’t have been bothered by the fact that he had a last minute gig if it hadn’t been for the lack of time we had been spending together. I knew he worked nights, and I worked during the day our schedules conflicted most of the time. But after my father had hired him for the grand opening of Temptations, he had given me the cold shoulder about interfering with his work. He was a disc jockey, not a brain surgeon. I didn’t get it. The only thing I knew was that I was really anticipating our night together. Girls got needs goddamn it.
It didn’t help matters much that all I could think about was Mikey. I blamed that on Rico too. Lack of orgasms and not seeing my man that much forced the unwanted thoughts of Mikey naked into my head. My phone chimed again. Heaven help Rico if the next text that came through that phone read something like “keep dinner warm”. I’d kill him and prove to the world that I was my father’s daughter so help me God.
Mikey: What’re you doing?
Well, now. I pondered all the ways I could answer the simple question. Did I tell him I had just been stood up? Did I tell him I was sitting in my pajamas waiting to get laid? No, definitely not that.
My fingers worked quickly to reply. I probably should’ve waited, right? Maybe not seem so eager.
Me: Trying to decide what to do tonight. What about you?
I chewed on my bottom lip as I stared at the phone waiting for him to reply. It seemed like minutes when in reality it was mere seconds before my phone chimed again.
Mikey: I’ll make it easy for you. You’re hanging out with me.
I grinned like a fool. It was bizarre. My boyfriend could tell me that he was ditching me for work and that he would wake me up when he got home sending me into a fit, but Mikey could dictate what in fact I was doing and I was perfectly fine with that. I even liked it.
Me: What will we do?
It didn’t matter what he replied because I would’ve agreed to anything. I mean it anything. He could’ve said, let’s go rob a bank, and I’d ask him if I should bring a crowbar. I was screwed. Actually, I wasn’t and maybe that was part of the problem.
My phone rang, and I answered it without even checking who it was. “Hello?”
“I don’t like texting,” he said into the phone sounding a little grumpy.
“Then why did you text me in the first place?” I asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.
The Tempted Series: Collectors Edition Page 7