I sit back in my chair, silently contemplating the issue. Ares has been standing in the far corner, glowering at me in angry silence. Omar’s getaway has been rubbing him the wrong way all this week.
“So, what does that mean? He’s been hoarding money?” Ares asks. “I mean, if their profit has doubled?—”
“We don’t know for sure if it’s doubled,” Ivan replied. “I mean, anything’s possible, but we won’t know anything like that until we get a look at their records.”
Ares rolls his eyes. “He had to have been hoarding cash. Where did he get the money for those renovations? And the money for him to run? He took our fifty grand and left town with it, Roman.”
It’s valid reasoning. I immediately think of his manager. The beautiful, golden haired Ember. Was she doing such a good job that they netted enough money for him to have the money to disappear?
I guess none of that matters now. I need to be recouped for his fuck up.
“How much would we get from the insurance company if we torched the place?” I ask Ivan.
Ivan sighed as he thought it over. “According to the policy you took out six months ago, you could be looking at anywhere from half a million to just over a million dollars. It would be nice padding for our coffers.”
“And it would serve him right,” said Ares. “Fuck him. I vote we burn the place to the ground.”
It’s an idea. I’ll admit, I’m tempted. I nod to Ivan and say, “Get over there and get me those financial records. Take someone with you.”
“Yes, sir.” He closes his laptop and walks out, leaving me alone with my brother.
“You are not seriously considering keeping that place standing, are you?” he asks me.
“So what if I am?” He scoffs. “What?”
“That rat bastard is more than likely in the wind by now. We need to make him an example so everyone knows that you can’t just run without consequence.”
I suppose he’s right. No… I know he’s right. I’m not sure why I’m hesitating. The best playisto make our money the best way possible, and that is to make sure that place is burned to ashes and collect on the insurance payout.
“What is the problem, Roman?” Ares asks. “This is textbook. ‘When they get away, we make them pay.’ We find their families, we burn down their properties?—”
“I know all that,” I say to him. “I also know that the Kitten’s Paw was a hole-in-the-wall strip club until they managed to turn things around. Presumably because of their new management. If we tap into that, we could possibly make more money than we would if we just burned it down.” He stares at me in silent defiance, his brow furrowed and one corner of his mouth turned up in disgust.
“Yeah, okay.” He scoffs and starts pacing the floor like an angry lion. He’s going to wear a hole in the expensive Persian rug under his feet.
“You really have a bug up your ass about this.”
“I just don’t like it when somebody gets one over on us. That’s all.”
I get up from my place at my desk and walk around to him, resting my hands on his shoulders to stop his pacing. “Nobody’s getting anything over on us. I’m handling it. All right? There’s more than one way to skin a cat. I own the building now, remember? No matter what, Omar’s not going to make anotherdime off that place. Not if we burn it down, and certainly not if we keep it going. No matter what, we’re coming out on top.”
Ares looks at me skeptically but finally nods in response. “All right. But if we find him?—”
“You can take his head and put it on a pike outside the club,” I tell him. I’m only half joking.
A few hours later,Ivan calls me back and it’s set me in motion. I don’t know why, but I need to have my feet on the floor inside that place. I need to see it for myself.
“I don’t know how they managed it,” Ivan had said, “but the value on the club’s doubled, all right. If my estimates are right, they’ll easily hit a million dollars by the end of summer.”
I look up at the pink glow from the sign above the doorway. They’ve been open for about an hour and the parking lot is already almost full. I hadn’t been looking for the renovations before, but now I’m wondering how many there really were. I’d have to have Ivan get me a list of every dollar that was spent to build this place up for the insurance.
Conversely, I could also see how much more money could be made if the place stayed open. Not to mention this could be a lucrative venture for some of our allies. All the deals that could be struck in the VIP rooms…
Ember’s little blue car is sitting in her reserved spot near the front. Either way this bounces, I feel oddly obligated to have a talk with her. Not sure what that is. Maybe I’m looking forwardto seeing her reaction when she finds out I’ve been her actual boss all along.
That’s appealing. She seems tough… and smart. She sized me up in seconds that first day we ran into one another, too. Wonder what a woman like that sounds begging for me to fuck her. Wonder how she’ll look with her face buried in a pillow, her peach shaped ass in my hands…
Well. There’s that spark I’ve been looking for all along. Maybe there’s something there for me to explore.
