Page 11 of Wicked Tricks

It was hard to contain the disgust that I felt inside as I watched the way he licked his lips as Mina approached him.

I knew that not every man who frequented strip clubs was a creep, but it was such an overwhelming majority that I found it hard not to judge them. I knew, logically, they weren’t all bad, but I was just tired of trying to distinguish the difference.

I shook my head, and made my way to Diana’s office.

Opening the door, I checked over my shoulder for any onlookers before I slipped into the room. As the door sealed behind me, the music became a muffled pulse in the background, and the office was near silence.

Diana stood in front of her desk, leaning against it. Her hand was gripped tightly around her phone, fingers curling tighter as she locked eyes with me.

“What thefuckhave you done?”

4

Chapter 4

Antoni

We pulled up almost in unison outside of Mum’s house, the guys right behind me. I insisted on taking my own car. Robbie had not shut up since that girl left the house, and even Sammy, the pacifist, agreed that something had to be done.

After she left, I rang Diana and she had assured me that she had nothing to do with it. She had in fact only demanded that Rome come and apologise to us.

As far as I was concerned, I had no reason not to believe her.

Of course I wasn’t naive enough to blindly trust what Diana said, but I wasn’t as angry and paranoid as a lot of our family.

Honestly, I couldn’t give a shit about our control over Lilith’s.

We either owned, or took a cut from, the majority of the clubs in Melbourne. Clubs that we actually saw financial gain from. Because of the deal set up by my father, Lilith’s was just another office space as far as we were concerned.

Though, the control that we had over the underworld was fragile - as was every aspect of our life, living it as we did. Keeping up appearances was important, now more than ever.

Between the bikies and the smaller gangs that were gaining traction in our locality, we couldn’t let a rumour spark that the Santino’s had gone soft.

I locked my car and briefly scanned the area with my hand on the gun that was tucked into my waistband.

Had that woman really bluffed me? I shook my head and laughed to myself.

I had seen the girl before, every now and then at Lilith’s.

Though I believed her when she said she didn’t recognise me. The less that my face was spotted at the establishments I was involved with, the easier it was for them to fly under the radar.

Luckily, the advancement of technology allowed me to do a lot of the dealings from home. And Ren, my oldest and most trusted friend, acted as the middle man in these transactions or meetings when it was necessary.

We had been raised side by side. His father was my father’s right hand man. They had each prepared us to walk in their shoes. Passing down the job, just as their father’s had done with them. Though our generation of The Family looked a lot different than it did twenty years ago.

Ren gave me a smile and a pat on the shoulder as he met up with me on my mother’s front lawn.

Grabbing me by the neck, he pulled me in close, “how dare you make me ride with them,” he hissed. I chuckled as he pushed me away and Robbie ran to join us. His nose was still slightly crusted with speck of dry blood, though he had tried to clean it up.

The small light by the front door was on.

I heard the muffled noise of the TV cut out as I unlocked the door and poked my head inside. She stood expectantly at the bottom of the steps in her dressing gown. Noticing the others behind me, she pulled it tighter around herself.

“Antoni,” she frowned, “what’s going on?”

“I came to check on you, that’s all.”

“That girl from Lilith’s came by the house, Zia Vera,” Robert tattled.

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