“She’s lucky to have you.” Brooke released her tight grip and took a step back. “And Olly, too. I just hope it’s not too late.”
“Me, too. And hey, you have my number, right?”
“Saved it in my phone the first time you called.”
“If you hear anything?—”
“You and Olly will be the first to know.”
“Thanks, Brooke. Really.” The two shared a second hug.
“Good luck, Scarlett. I really hope you find her.”
Scarlett watched Rose’s friend disappear through the coffee shop door and thought…
I really hope I find her, too.
“We’ve got a problem, Boss.”
He looked up from his desk to see Pauly, his main bouncer and most trusted employee, shutting the office door behind him. At six-five, the three-hundred-pound man was a solid wall of tattooed muscle. He was also loyal to the core.
Knowing you could trust someone was a rarity in this business. Then again, Pauly owed Valdez—and by proxy, nowhim—the kind of debt that could never fully be repaid. Which explained why he was standing here, no doubt bringing annoying as fuck news.
Goddamn, this shit’s getting old.
When he’d first agreed to take on this gig, he was under the impression his sole responsibility would bethebusiness. Not the fucking strip club he was sitting in now. The other business.
One that would soon make him millions in untraceable cash.
He’d already be enjoying the spoils of his riches if that dipshit, Valdez, hadn’t gotten his dumbass shot by the pigs up in Denver. The man had built one of the greatest trafficking empires in existence, but when the heat started coming down, the stupid son of a bitch had gotten sloppy. Not only had Valdez taken a cop’s bullet, but he’d also apparently run his mouth enough at the end to lead the feds right to their operation’s front fucking door.
Now Valdez was six feet down, they’d lost several of their best guys in multiple FBI raids, and—minus him, Pauly, and a handful of others—the rest of their crew was either locked up for at least the next two decades or dead.
Instead of living the high life like he was promised, he’d been stuck in this shithole for the last several weeks. Every fucking day was spent here, in this hole-in-the-wall strip joint, overseeing a bunch of whiney ass cunts and dumbass drunks who couldn’t follow simple fucking rules.
“What is it this time?” he asked the towering man before him. “One of the girls complaining about getting groped again?” He settled back into his chair and linked his fingers together in his lap. “Tell the stupid bitch to get the fuck over it and get her ass back on the floor where it belongs. As for the dickhead causing the problem…” That one was easy. “Kick his ass out and tell him to never show his face here again.”
Guys like that…he didn’t give two shits if he lost their business. Idiots like that came here for the show with hopes of copping a quick feel. But those men weren’t his target clientele.
No, that would be themainbusiness. The one only Pauly, one other guy, and the woman who’d been brought in not long before Valdez’s untimely demise.
Sales. That’s where the real money came in. And with this new round of girls—and the pressure from the feds off their backs—it was time to start setting up the first of what would become many lucrative transactions.
Transactions that would make him richer than he could have ever imagined. A millionaire ten, maybe even twenty times over. But until then…
“Was there something else?”
“It’s not one of the dancers this time.” A look of regret formed on the guy’s bearded face. “It’s Cinnamon.”
“Cinnamon?” He frowned at that. “What the hell did she do?”
The sexy ginger with legs for days had been brought in a few months earlier as the new overseer of all the dancers. Lead hostess, she’d first called herself. He’d laughed his ass off at that.
Oh, she’d tried to fight those first few days. Fight. Run. The spunky woman had done her damnedest to escape. But it only took a few days and some not-so-gentle coaxing to make her see she wasn’t going anywhere.
Only place girls like her go is in the ground.
“It’s not her, exactly,” Pauly explained. “But one of my contacts called. Said the search for her has started back up. More people have been poking around about her again. Rumor has it, there’s even been a new P.I. looking into her whereabouts. This one from Cincinnati.”