Page 107 of Keep Him Like Secrets

“Yeah?”

“It’s not just Teresa.”

“What’s not just Teresa?”

“It’s not just Teresa that you have. You have me too.”

Fuck, that was good to hear.

“You got me too,” I told her. “Though, what does that mean for our deal? And your boss?”

“Well, the deal is airtight. I, uh, made sure my lawyer closed any possible loopholes. The part that is more murky is that… we chose me for the deal because I’m notasknown in the family. And I was meant to be a silent partner. But…”

“But if you and I are involved, and someone does some digging…”

“Yeah. The problem is, there’s a new AUSA. And she’s gunning for us. We need the money clean, but we wanted it to be as discreet as possible.”

“Hmm. I guess you have a few options then.”

“Oh, yeah? I can’t come up with any.”

“First off, we go through with the original plan. But get extra careful about the books.”

“Okay. What else?”

“Well, there’s always the… going straight option. You have money. You’ll be making a lot more once the club opens. Get out.”

“I worked my ass off to get in and you want me to quit?”

“I’m not saying quit. But maybe more… become a contractor.”

“A mob contractor?” she scoffed.

“No, hear me out. If you get out and go—as far as anyone can tell—legit and build a nightclub empire… no one would have any reason to look twice at you. And you could continue to wash the family’s money. For a small fee.”

“But… they’re myfamily, Soren.”

“And I’m not saying you need to give them up. You can still see them. Do book club. Everything like that. But if you’re not actively running a crew and whatever jobs that entails, what could the cops say? That you have shady friends? So what?”

“Even if I did go that route, there would be speculation on the clubs as businesses that are cash-heavy.”

“And that’s when very careful computer programming comes into play.”

“Why are you talking about that like you know all about it?”

“I know a thing or two about busting my ass to get where I am too. And how fiercely I want to protect that. While at the beginning, I’d been willing to play it fast and loose with Alen and his dirty money, the more successful I became, the more careful I wanted to be about that.”

“So you, what, hired someone to design a computer system that slips in the dirty money?”

“Technically, I hired someone to create a ‘training’ program of a legit program.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I didn’t wantanyoneknowing what I was into. Not even the programmer. So I had him code a ‘training’ program for new servers and bartenders to use when they are learning to use the computer to put in orders. It has a ‘trainer’ button to hit with each order.”

“I still don’t get it.”

“The button spits out a receipt that looks normal, but the one for the business has that ‘trainer’ button printout on it.”

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