“Motherfucker,” Benny shouts.
“What the fuck am I missing here?” Enzo jumps in.
“Two months ago, we paid this little prick a visit. It seems he didn’t get the fucking message,” I bite out through gritted teeth.
“Yeah, I’m gonna need more than that,” Aurora demands between bites of bagel.
“Since the start of the year, all the local clubs started reporting a drop in customers. When they looked into it, theyheard a rumour going round that the clubs weren’t safe. That women were being attacked, but they weren’t reporting it to the police. A few of The Syndicate clubs decided to list it as an internal job for the clean up crews since it was tanking profits.”
“I think I remember listing it on the server but didn’t realise you’d picked that one up. We didn’t have much to go on, but there were some decent eye witnesses that pointed toward some local college guys,” Sinclair says, looking like he’s trying to dig out the details from his memory.
“Yeah, it didn’t take much to track them down. Given the state we left the ring leader in, they should have got the message.” I push my plate away, no longer hungry and struggling to swallow down my rage. “The job listing included some rough security footage from Inferno, but I didn’t want to send it to the police so we could keep them out of our business.”
“Well, it doesn’t look like we have much of a choice now. They got busted on our turf and the police will subpoena our footage of last night anyway. How old is the footage from Inferno now? Can we hand it over with whatever they request? Can the police still use it?” Aurora asks.
“Depends what’s on it,” Enzo says.
“There’s a few clips of them spiking drinks, but it wouldn’t stand up in court. They’re clever enough to mask what they’re doing. When I reviewed the listing, it included a video from one of the alley cams at Inferno where one of them bundles a woman into a car. But again, on its own, there’s nothing to say they weren’t just helping a girl in trouble to get home. There’s no evidence that they touch the girls on the premises.”
“Even with finding them in possession of Rohypnol, that’s still only intent. They have no proof that they’ve assaulted anyone. You reckon I could identify any of the girls from the footage?” Sin replies.
“I couldn’t, but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t,” I say.
“Okay, I’ll dig through the old footage and get Dom to give a copy to the police if I can get anything off it.” Sin pauses for a moment.
“Judging by their frat house, I’m sure someone’s daddy already has them out on bail by now,” Benny adds.
Aurora finishes off her last bite and pushes the plate away before wrapping her hands around her coffee cup. “See what you can do to help the police. Unfortunately, if they’re currently investigating them in connection with the club, we can’t deal with them ourselves till that dies down.”
“The police would never find the body,” I say, failing to hide my petulant tone.
“But they would notice he was missing, Nico. Not exactly helpful having the cops sniffing around right now when I’m about to slaughter my husband,” she says dryly. Folding her arms across her chest, she raises one eyebrow, half mocking, half admonishing me. She’s not wrong.
“She’s right,” Benny pipes up. “As much as I want to beat him to death with a baseball bat full of rusty nails, we can’t right now.”
“I know, but it just doesn’t make any sense why they started up again. We sent a clear fucking message, so why are they back?” I reply.
Sinclair pops his head up from his screen. “Nico’s right. Why the fuck are they back and why, when they know there are people like Nico and Benny keeping tabs on them, would they get into such a public display?”
“Do a deep dive on them. See if maybe they’re part of something bigger or whether they really are this fucking stupid,” Aurora adds.
Sinclair nods and we fall into a comfortable silence as they finish eating. When they’re done, I collect the plates to load the dishwasher.
“Did Gabi’s team identify Manny’s location?” I ask Sin.
“Not yet, but we’ll be able to narrow it down when his security switches shifts. See where any supplies are being taken. Just a matter of time,” he replies.
Aurora shuffles in her seat before hopping down. “Stefano will be here soon with Etta and Leandro. I’m going to need you all to sit in on the meeting. Once we have a location from Gabi, we won’t waste any time extracting that fucking traitor. I want him in our custody, and at Nico’s mercy, in forty-eight hours or less.”
The way she talks has my blood pumping. I can’t wait to get my hands on Manny. And knowing my phoenix, she’s looking forward to it as well.
As the meeting wraps up,Benny heads to the front room with his sister in tow. He and Etta have been spending more and more time together recently. Now his cunt of a father is dead she’s truly come into her own.
Aurora was right to appoint her capo. Not only is she a natural leader, but folding all the clean up crews under her was a stroke of genius. She has a talent for the job, and instead of having a plethora of teams working on the fringes of the organisation, we now have a highly adaptable network that can be coordinated quickly.
Teams like us that were treated as second-class citizens are now a central part of the organisation and given the respect they deserve.
It’s a wise decision. You should never alienate the people who know all your dirty secrets.
