"What do we do?"
"About Zoe? For now, nothing. I used one of my own special software programs, instead of something physical that could be found. I'll be alerted anytime she makes a call, and the conversation will be recorded for me so I don’t need to listen to anything live."
Even with what I was facing, I couldn’t help being impressed by Alex yet again.
"You'll have to give me a clear story of exactly how and why you have tech like that on you at all," the agent interjected.
Alex rolled his eyes at the agent, turning around so he was sitting properly.
"Yeah, yeah. Onward, James. Just drop us a block from the hotel, we'll walk the rest of the way."
I looked outside the window as the car started to move. I idly kept up with their banter, but most of my mind was trying to convince my heart there was no use in breaking just yet. I hadn't realized it still could, after everything else I'd already faced.
Chapter 15
Alex
I sat in a room not unlike the basement I'd found myself in not so long ago. Only it was in a surprisingly uptown condo, rented by one of the clients. Most of the space had been cleared—I suspected it had been set up just for the meeting, probably wasn’t even lived in—leaving a few pieces of redundant furniture and of course the table in the middle of the room surrounded with the seats.
Convincing the had taken a while, just a little over a week, and in the meantime; Angelo had me play a few low baller games, flaunting the results until the prey took the bait. Which, of course, they eventually did.
It was a bigger meeting than I'd had before, with all the last four clients we were after being present, and one repeat client I'd already worked with who'd come back for more. He must have approached Angelo, who included him in the meeting he'd secured with the other guys.
Angelo had also increased the collection amount and had neglected to tell me until when I was on the way to the meet, being driven by the usual babysitter. Since it was a group meeting, Destiny had, thankfully, been kept out of it.
Everyone had brought one extra guy, though—babysitter, bodyguard; whatever. It was like an exceptionally high risk poker game, even though the table was empty, save for bottles of mineral water, one in front of everyone, that were left unopened and untouched.
The cash had been doubled, and with the last four clients, and one repeat customer, the total I would walk out of the room with, was expected to be two hundred thousand dollars. I'd never picked up quite so much at one time before. Because the cash was so much this time, especially for the newbies, they had a hard time swallowing the usual spiel.
"The software will work how it has always worked," I said for the umpteenth time. "If anything, it will work better; I even made improvements, so that it could work for longer. So long as you all don’t end up in the same game, trying to clear each other out, you will all get your returns."
Besides just adding the new improvements, I'd tacked on a little something. Technically, it had always been there; something of a failsafe for me. Ever since I'd started giving out the software, I'd made sure the app kept records of the people that made use of it, where and when. The information automatically got sent to a storage space in my phone, where I'd set up the app's 'home'.
Sputafuoco Senior had asked me if the software was traceable back to the users, giving me the idea in the first place. I'd lied, and gotten to work on it immediately. It was pretty much like recording digital footsteps, from when it left 'home' to when it expired; useful when you knew how to utilize it. Aside from my name, no other names were mentioned; but the app would keep track of that sort of thing for me once I had it in their personal devices. I was toying with the idea of handing it over to Belt to sweeten our deal.
No one needed to know that, though.
Besides, the men in front of me didn’t even seem to care. Aside from that one man, the one that creeped me out the last time I ended up in a poker den, no one else had given a damn about how the technology worked, just that it did and they would get a lot of free money out of it. The Sputafuocos, father and son both, had been using me for a while, and since that first time when word got spread around, everyone, old and new, who came knew every time I increased the stakes, they always got their money back.
The increase was a lot this time—double the last amount—so they were a little nervous about giving it up. I had a moment to think that Angelo had been nuts to have them all meet me at the same time, instead of meeting each of them separately, as usual. Because now, even the guy coming for a repeat was nervous about giving up the cash; he was pulling it from his previous profits anyway, so he should have been easy.
I used my charm to reassure them.
"Gentlemen, listen up."
They stopped murmuring among themselves—they weren’t quiet enough, as if the room was so large I couldn’t hear them anyway—and turned to me. I smiled, more like a smirk really, the one that said I was young and cocky, because I was just that good.
"The software will work. I can guarantee this, because I tried it myself yesterday after working on a few final adjustments. The current version works better than its predecessors by far."
"We can't just take your word for it, kid," one guy said.
"Fair enough," I conceded. "But Angelo is backing me up; he was there when I put it to the test. His own father cleared it when Angelo set up this meeting, after he got the results back. If you feel like you can't trust me, you could always call up one of them and ask them yourselves. But, keep in mind that I can't give you the software before you hand over the money. Rules from the boss."
There was a tense moment where everyone was still and silent, then they turned to each other. I could tell I'd ruffled a few feathers, but being charming was playing smart; I didn’t have to play fair. All the men seated at the table with me had at least talked to Angelo. I didn’t doubt they all knew about his family, and the hold that Sputafuoco had on the whole city. He'd personally approached them to set it up, if they just walked away…
Angelo wouldn’t be any happier with them than he would be with me. It was a gamble, but when working with the ruthless, everyone else tended toward keeping the big bad wolf happy. Almost as one, they signaled their guys, and the five men standing a few feet behind each of them stepped forward, dropping black bags on the table. My babysitter stepped forward to start checking the bills. It was mandatory, and they must have been informed, because no one protested or acted insulted.
I got up to help, just to make the process go faster. I was on the last bag as he finished his second. I checked and counted everything, then smiled at the client the bag sat in front of, dropping it with the rest of the pile at the middle of the table.
"Now, everyone. May I have your phones, please?"
They handed the devices over, different makes, models and sizes, with a bit more reluctance, four of them skeptic. I aligned them on the table, setting the application in each phone, and handed them back. As they got up to check their merchandise, the babysitter and I picked up the bags of money, him taking three while I took two.
"You have nothing to worry about, gentlemen. I have it all in my hands, and you will be getting your money's worth. In this instance, you can take my word as good to be as Angelo's."
I was a little worried about turning my back to them, but we managed to make our way out the door, then out of the building without a problem, to the drive where the car waited for us. There was a bag in the trunk, and we emptied out the five bags into it, all the money fitting into the bigger bag. It would be a pain to take anywhere, but whatever. It wasn’t going to the bank in bulk anyway; it just had to be stored somewhere for the time being.
Finally, it was all done. The deal was over. Now I just had to be prepared for whatever else Angelo had in mind. He could try to get me to stay longer, but then he'd expect me to ask about my dad first, wouldn’t he? Would he try to kill me?
Or would he try to sell me out to the authorities over my part in t
he deal. He'd already killed my father, a con man no one would miss in all reality, except for his son. But me… I'd walked away from a new job, but I could just as easily decide to go back to it if I wanted to; it had been left open ended, after I left because of a family 'emergency'. Not to mention all the connections I'd made that meant I would be most definitely missed, by a lot of people. And with my name moving around within his circles, Angelo had to know the police would look at him if I disappeared.
Whatever he meant to do, it was time I put my own plan into action. I'd already started; Destiny and Belt were working with me, so I'd gotten to refine it a couple of times. I had a bag full of money with me. I couldn’t do anything with it, but it could come in handy.
Now all I had to do was get rid of the babysitter.
"Here. Take the night off, go buy yourself something nice." I threw him a large roll of cash from my pocket. "You can call Angelo and tell him I'm bringing the money in."
He hesitated, clearly torn. I sighed and made my tone impatient.
"Look, I'm tired, okay? I want this deal done so I can go to sleep. After I finish everything with Angelo, I get my life—and my dad—back. I'm not in the mood to argue with you. Give your boss a call, tell him I collected the money, and that I have it. I handled the cash by myself long before I got a babysitter, I'm not gonna lose it."
His eyes were cautious, but he didn’t speak to me. Just stuffed the money I gave him in his pocket, keeping his hard eyes on mine as he made the call. I rolled my eyes, like that could intimidate me. I held my hand out as the phone rang, but he did at least give me the keys. I waited while he talked to Angelo, in Italian so I wouldn’t understand a thing. When he got off the phone, he looked a little unhappy.
I just gave him a cocky smirk and got inside the car. I bounced ideas in my head of what I could do next as I drove off.
Angelo was being just a little careless; he was wrong if he still thought he had the upper hand. It all worked in my favor.
Chapter 16
Destiny
While Alex was out dealing with the last of the clients, Angelo called me to meet him.
I was worried when I got the call. The timing seemed especially suspicious. I wondered if he was going to off me, but then he wouldn’t ask me to dress up and meet him at his club just so he could kill me, would he? There would be plenty of witnesses to my arrival there.
Just in case, I wore a flashy dress. A gold sequined number that emphasized my assets, with a lot of gold and silver jewelry to match, and gold heels that would put me close to Angelo's height. Before I met Angelo, there had been few men I could wear very high heels around. I was tall to begin with, so heels were usually overkill, but I'd have to put on more than six inches to beat Angelo's height.
I pulled on a trench coat that fell to below my knees and hid the thigh length dress. I stood in front of the mirror as I tied it, doing a last check of my makeup. I added a touch of lipstick, dabbed a bit more blush on my cheeks, and I was good to go. I took my hair in my hands, gathered it all up on top of my head, and let it fall around me, shaking my head slightly just to make it look messier. I didn’t usually do much with my hair, and I didn’t have the time to do anything special just then, so I was lucky my hair usually behaved, taking a natural wave that worked just fine for me.
I was as ready as I was going to be. I made sure to grab a small purse with my phone, ID and a bit of cash inside. I almost forgot my copy of the suite's keycard.
I was a little nervous, but I looked confident as I left.
Again, a cab waited for me when I got downstairs. I didn’t ask for it this time; Angelo must have made the call for me. The doorman opened the door of the hotel for me, then rushed ahead of me to open the back of the cab door as well. I smiled at him, discreetly handing him a tip as he held my hand to help me inside.
My heart pounded, my nerves stretching tight on the drive there. I focused on the moving scenery outside. It wasn’t anything particularly nice to look at, we were in the city after all, but it was better than nothing. I breathed evenly through my nose, taking deep breaths, and holding for a second before breathing out, then repeating the process.
In my head, I went through everything Alex had told me, over and over. I already knew everything I had to do, the part I was meant to play. I just had to be creative about bringing it to life. I managed to calm myself by the time we got there. If Alex hadn't predicted that Angelo would likely want to see me soon, with the job nearly over, I wouldn’t have had time to prepare at all. Not that I got much time, but it wasn’t as much of a surprise as it could have been.
Just like the last time, a line was formed outside, full of partygoers looking to enter the club. Also like last time, I walked right up to the bouncers, because I knew I would be let in. I slid off the trench coat as I strutted up the line, and I was conscious of the appreciative looks and cat calls I received. I ignored them all. I also pretended not to notice when the bouncers, different guys this time, each gave me an obvious once-over as I walked inside.
The dress barely covered all that much, it hit my thighs and covered the swell of my ass. The top of the dress was something like two wide straps that left most of my back bare and covered my breasts, swooping down to my navel where the dress tightened in bunched fabric at my waist, then flared over my hips. For as skimpy as it was, it was also expensive designer, another gift I'd gotten from Angelo.
I left the trench at the coat check booth just inside the entrance and off to the side, even though there was another one in the VIP section for the upper crust clients, and walked further into the club. Unlike last time, I mingled a little. I knew a few of the workers, and the place survived on a lot of repeat customers, so there were plenty of people I'd already met.
It wasn’t so much the chance to mingle I wanted, as it was the excuse to let as many people know that I was around. I wasn’t sure it would change Angelo's mind if his intention was to take me out of the equation early, but I hoped it would at least give him pause.
I knew better than to keep him waiting too long, though. He liked to flaunt his possessions, and a lot of people knew me as his girl so it counted. But I didn’t take longer than five minutes before I was heading for the stairs that led to the VIP section.
Making my way up the stairs, I emerged into the same elegant and sophisticated room from before. If anything, it impressed me even less than the last time, no matter it was just as grand. If Alex's plan worked out—and I trusted him, so I was only a little afraid, but I didn’t doubt him—I would never have to step into the room again.
I couldn’t say I would miss it.
I made the walk to Angelo's office, but I stopped, surprised when I was called from the other side of the room. I followed the direction the call came from, to see Angelo in one of the private sitting areas, surrounded by people both male and female. These weren't his other 'clients'; they looked like the crowd that used to follow him around from bar to bar, back when I first met him. The hangers-on more interested in currying favor and getting money, but likely didn’t know about his shadier deals.
Even in that crowd, I stood out. They all noticed when I walked over to them, and instead of brushing me off like they would have before, they kept their gazes on me, some appreciative, some annoyed; others resentful that I had the attention of the most powerful man in the room. With a short command from him, they all stood up and walked off, migrating to other areas in the room.
I smiled at Angelo as he stood up, holding his hands out for mine. I stopped in front of him, sliding my hands into his, and staying still as he ran his eyes over me, a lazy, self-satisfied smirk lingering on his lips.
"Beautiful as always, Destiny. I love the shoes."
I could tell by the tone of his voice what he was imagining. Me against a wall, naked, either facing him or away as he took me while I was in those heels. He'd told me, once, that his initial fascination with me had been my height. Five foot ten was a bit tall for a woman—hell, it was tal
l for a lot of guys—and he the liked fact that high heels only made me taller. He'd called it 'convenient' once. I hadn't been sure how to take it, but I was still besotted with him back then, so it didn’t matter.
I only smiled wider, not letting him see the turmoil of my emotions. "I know you do. That's why I wore them for you." They still put me half an inch shorter than him, though.
He tugged me forward by the hands and down into his lap as he sat down. He called for a waiter and one appeared almost immediately.
"Bring us a bottle of whisky and two glasses."
He didn’t give a specific brand, but the waiter didn’t seem like he needed to be told. Everyone who worked for him knew his tastes. The alternative wasn’t pretty at all.
"What are we celebrating?" I purred, wrapping my arm around his shoulder and bringing my face close to his, my other hand sliding under his coat jacket to draw patterns on his chest.
"Mmm. Alex should be completing his work today, I think. If not today, not much longer."
I smiled, sultry, inviting. "Does that mean I can come back and stay with you?" I pouted, getting closer to drag my lips over his ear, flicking my tongue at his earlobe. "I miss you."
I was being bold, but occasionally, he loved that. I was lucky it happened to be one of those times.
He chuckled, one hand spread territorially on my thigh as he placed a kiss just below the dip of my collar bones, a little above my covered breasts. My body shivered at the intimate touch, not quite in pleasure. We were interrupted then by the waiter bringing his order, and I breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
He made a gesture, and the whiskey was opened and a portion poured in each glass. Angelo leaned forward, with me still in his lap, took one and gave it to me before grabbing his own. We each took a drink, him a healthy swallow, me a modest sip.
Dirty Money: A Dark Mafia Romance (Alpha Men Book 1) Page 10