Page 102 of Wicked Tricks

The sounds grew louder and less muffled. Standing by the door that very few people in the world knew about, I could almost make out what Antoni was saying.

I turned the knob slowly, as to not make a noise, and cracked open the door. It was dark down in the basement, with only one warm, yellow light hanging above the single chair in the otherwise empty room.

Tied to that chair, was the man that Angel found snooping around the perimeters of the beach house. This weekend was supposed to be me and Antoni’s first getaway together. An escape from the city and both of our highly-demanding and emotionally taxing businesses. We were both naive to think that we could simply disappear.

The situation with the Redliner’s had only grown more tense since Lilith’s and The Family had formed an alliance. With our newly connected resources, we managed to find out the cocaine supplier for the Redline Angels, who were once Antoni’s biggest rivals in the racket.

They never saw it coming.

We were sure that their cash flow had to be haemorrhaging by now, and we were hoping that we could just wait them out instead of going into a full blown war.

We had heard nothing from them in months - until now.

Now, we knew that they were still watching us. I had called Bea hours ago when we first found the guy, to warn her to keep an eye on any new or shady clientele we had at Lilith’s. They had to know about our connection by now, and I had been worried about the repercussions my newly inherited little strip club might face. Though all of my girls were tough, and could definitely look after themselves, I couldn’t trust that Antoni’s enemies would spare them.

I started to grow impatient. This weekend had been a promise of having Antoni all to myself for once. Back home, there was always something he had to attend to, someone needing to see him, or someone he needed to ‘take care of’.

I was just as guilty in this, and found it hard to make time for him as well. When we were together, we often ended up talking business anyway. It was hard to escape. This weekend was supposed to be about anything other than work.

I had been waiting long enough.

“So,” I heard Antoni growl from the bottom of the stairs, “are you ready to tell me his name yet? Or do I need Angel to take over for a little while?”

Angel stood in the shadows, menacingly sharpening his knife against a metal surface. I smirked, because as much as I loved Antoni and all of his men that I had gotten to know over the past year, they were all walking cliches.

I pushed the door all the way open, and made my way down the stairs.

“What’s taking you so long?” I said, announcing my arrival.

They all turned their heads to look at me, and Antoni’s eyes watched me with an amused sparkle.

“Oof,” he shook his head, clapping the bloodied guy bound to the chair on the shoulder, “now you’re in trouble mate.”

The limp man in the chair looked up at me through puffy, swollen eyes with confusion plain on his face. His gaze then flickered between Antoni and Angel as if searching for answers. Antoni made his way over to me, with his devilish smile plastered across his face as he looked me up and down. Wrapping his arm around my waist, he pulled me in close and nuzzled into my hair.

“Hmm,” he said quietly, “are you wearing what I think you’re wearing under that?”

His fingers trailed downward, and tried to peel open the front of my dressing gown to sneak a peek. I slapped his hand away, and his fingers snapped back quickly. He mockingly dropped his lip into a pout.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” I said, ignoring the other men in the room as my hands wrapped around his big arms. With him, it was easy to pretend that we were the only people in the room, or even the only people in the world.

“I’m sorry gorgeous,” he purred, “this bastard hasn’t had enough yet apparently.”

I smiled, and locked eyes with the bloodied man. His breathing was ragged and shallow, his shirt was torn and stained.

Pursing my lips, I walked towards him and his eyes narrowed as I picked up a rusty steel bar from on top of the workbench. I dragged the long bar across the cement as I got closer to him, the prickly noise filled the dusty basement.

Looking over my shoulder, I watched Antoni lean against the wall next to Angel, still watching me like I was the most amusing person on the planet. His eyes were dark and glimmering in a way that gave away exactly what he was thinking.

The man in the chair tilted his head to look up at me, and I tilted my head to the side.

“Why did you come here?” I asked.

He laughed at me, looking towards the men in the corner as if to ask if I was serious.

My insides turned with anger and I lifted the metal bar and hit him in the stomach with it in one easy swoop.

He crumbled forward, he was winded and gasping for air yet again. His eyes were no longer searching for the other men, but trained on the floor by his feet.

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