“You know me so well.”
“You’re such a cliché.”
I managedto get the lowdown on the Contis through Nick, and found out where they lived and what they had planned for the foreseeable future. They’d rented a large house out in the sticks with acres of land at their disposal. Word on the street was they planned to stay there for the next three months at least. They’d been travelling around the country, taking their harem on tour no doubt, but they liked being close to our capital city, so they’d pitched up their temporary home on the outskirts of it.
According to Nick, they’d tried several times to reach out to Luca Marquez, hoping to set up some meetings with him. Their business up north was in nightclubs, and they wanted to extend their power in our great city. But Luca hadn’t given them the time of day. I’d need to get a hold of him to find out why. Maybe he knew more about those dickweeds than I did. Knowledge was power, after all, and I needed all the power that I could get.
Eventually, Nick told me they were having an intimate gathering of like-mindedpeople at their home in a few nights. And after much persuasion and plain old-fashioned bribery, Nick managed to wangle an invite for himself, Julian, and me. I guessed my plus one was down to the fact that the brothers had yet to tap into my wealth of connections. I was a popular guy, after all.
So, that was what brought us to where we are now. With me, driving Nick and Julian to the Contis’ house of hell. I decided to be the designated driver, seeing as getting shit-faced wasn’t on my to-do list for the evening. I needed to stay clear-headed and focused if I was going to fuck shit up and get Wednesday the hell out of there. To be honest though, I felt like I could do with a stiff drink after an earful of Nick’s moaning on the journey over. He wasn’t impressed that my car was built for speed, and not for the comfort of its passengers. I loved my sports car, and I rarely had people in the back. Okay, it was kinda small and cramped, and he did look like a borrower with his knees up to his chin, but he needed to quit whining. His incessant grumbling was really starting to grate on me. That, and the prospect of what we were about to walk into.
“I swear to God, you’re doing it on purpose.” Nick shifted around like a disgruntled toddler who hadn’t taken his nap and jolted my chair forward with his abnormally large knees.
“My driving is impeccable.” I glanced in the rear-view mirror, to see him hit his head on the roof, as I mastered the art of racing over another bump in the road.
“Fuck. Are you trying to break my fucking neck?”
“Chill out, Miss Daisy, my driving isn’t that bad. Anyway, we’re here now. I bet the Contis have tarmacked their drive to within an inch of its life. We’ll sail down to their lair like we’re on rails.”
Just as I said that, a guy dressed all in black, wearing an earpiece and carrying a clipboard stepped into the driveway, and I slammed my breaks on. Both Nick and Julian jolted forward in their seats, but Nick, unfortunately, head-butted my headrest. He was not gonna let me forget that one.
“Jesus, if you wanted me to donate blood tonight, you didn’t need to take it out through my nose. What the fuck? This is the last time I’m getting into a car with you behind the wheel.” He rubbed his nose and gave me death stares in the mirror. Needless to say, Nick’s griping was the least of my problems.
“Names?” The security guy bent down to look into the car. It wasn’t too dark out, but he still used a torch to see inside, temporarily blinding us all with its brightness.
“Great,” Nick moaned. “A broken nose and now I’m blinded too. This night just keeps getting better and better.”
I waved my hand in front of me and screwed up my face. “Do you think you could lay off a bit with the floodlights?” I leant out of the window to try to get a look at his clipboard, but he pulled it into his chest possessively.
“Names?”
“Julian Moore, and this is Nick Charles and Cillian James,” Julian said from the passenger seat. I had a much wittier response planned, but I let him lead with that.
The guard scanned his papers and then grunted out something before stepping away from the car and motioning for us to drive on.
“What is it with security guys these days? Does zero personality come listed on the job description or what?” I said as we pulled down the driveway towards the large stately home-like building in front of us.
There were about a dozen performance cars parked around the building. I swung my car around the ugly fountain at the front of the property, depicting a swathe of naked bodies entwined together, and parked my car facing back down the driveway. I wanted to be ready for a quick escape, should I need it.
I hopped out of the car and Julian pulled himself out. Nick literally fell to the floor trying to escape his seat.
“Cool entrance, mate.” I smirked at him, looking like a fool hopping about to try and steady himself after being cooped up for the journey.
“I’m getting an Uber on the way home. I’m not going through that again.” He tutted and straightened out his jacket and tie. “Remind me, why are we here again? I seem to remember you being reluctant to share the same air as the Contis last time we were out.”
What could I say? Nick and Julian were friends, but they weren’t close enough for me to trust them with all the facts. They didn’t need to know about Wednesday. I was pretty sure they hadn’t even noticed her hiding on the floor at the club. So I gave them a watered down version of the truth. Outright lying didn’t sit well with me.
“I’m here for a girl. One of their girls, if you must know. What can I say?” I gave them my cheeky smile and held my arms out by my sides. “She intrigued me the other night, and I wanna find out more.”
“Good luck with that.” Nick rolled his eyes at me as he walked past. “They might share on occasion, but they have rules. I doubt they’d give up one of their toys to you.”
I won’t give them a fucking choice, I wanted to say. But I held my tongue, and the three of us made our way up the steps leading to the front doors.
Much like the pompous exterior, the house screamed gaudy, garish opulence. Everything was gold, royal blue, or purple, and it was like stepping back in time to some fucked up Renaissance period, where fine art and fucking went hand in hand. The place gave me a headache and I’d only seen the entrance hall. It was a mismatch of patterns, furniture, and soft furnishings overload. In short, it was a mess. I don’t know why I was surprised. I should’ve expected nothing less from two classless dicks like the Contis.
A waitress carrying a tray of champagne came over to us and offered us each a glass before telling us to follow her to the main sitting room. I think she had delusions of grandeur or was totally fucking clueless about her place of work. Who called it a sitting room these days? It wasn’t fucking Downton Abbey.
I didn’t touch my glass of champagne. Instead, I left it on a fancy table by the door and followed the girl down the wood-panelled corridor, towards the low rumbling of male voices and soft classical music. When we came into what she’d called the sitting room, we could see why it was an exclusive gathering. There were no more than six, maybe eight men, all of different ages and all dressed in suits, drinking and smoking. They were dotted around the room talking in smaller groups, and at first glance, we fitted in perfectly. Anyone looking from the outside in would think it was a high class gentleman’s club. But then we heard the tinkle of a soft bell from across the room. Enzo was holding a small silver bell in his hand, and upon ringing it, a flurry of naked girls came into the room carrying trays of finger food and lines of cocaine. The toys were doing their first job for the night, providing whatever sustenance the clientele wanted, to give them the energy to see them through to the next phase of the evening.
