Page 20 of Kiss of Death
“Honestly, O. I’m fine.”
“Ivy,” he warned.
“Do you ask all the girls here how they’re feeling after they spent a night dancing on stage?” she snapped at him.
“Only the ones who see a dead body on said stage before they have to dance on it all night.” Ivy quickly deflated when she realized a normal person probably wouldn’t be acting like everything is fine after seeing a coworker’s dead body.
She hopped off the bar stool, running her hands through her hair. She needed to go home. This exhaustion she felt hit her on a whole new level she realized she wasn’t equipped to deal with. “You don’t have to check on me.” She turned around to face him. “I told you guys I won’t go to the cops. I’m just really tired, and I’d like to get this meeting over with.”
“My sentiments exactly.” Ivy jumped at the sound of the woman’s voice directly behind her. She turned around and came face to face with the same woman who had gotten out of Otto’s car last night. Her icy cold stare unnerved Ivy. She shivered, despite how warm her body was.
“I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure, yet.” She stuck out her hand. “I’m Sofia Barbati.”
Ivy knew her name; she heard Bruno say it a few times, and she was part of the reason Ivy was even in Tres in the first place. Ivy’s part in all of this was for Otto, but Bruno was after Sofia for a much bigger price.
She shook Sofia’s hand and watched as the woman’s eyes narrowed a little bit. It was like looking into the hollows of death’s eyes. They were nothing more than a mirror to her own fate, and what Ivy saw left her with a sense of dread. She knew Smoke wasn’t the only one she’d have to worry about after this betrayal. Sofia would be right beside him, hunting her down as well. After meeting Sofia, Ivy would rather take her chances with Smoke.
Wolf made his rounds around the smaller rooms of the casino, making sure his women employees had someone to escort them home. After having to dispose of the body of one of his bartenders, he called in a little extra reinforcement. He thought after the shoot-out that happened here, he would be safe from anymore heat, but he knew that was a far-fetched idea. That body was a message from Boris or Bruno letting him know he’d chosen the wrong side in the war.
Wolf chuckled to himself, but it lacked humor. He spent years of this life making allies and friends and enemies along the way. He’d seen his fair share of war even though he had kept his little slice of territory as neutral as he could. He wasn’t a spring chicken anyway and well past his time to retire from this. He had every intention of giving this up to Cree and Seven, but with everything going on, he was going to have to stay in the game a little longer.
He made his way out of the smaller rooms and wanted to check out the bigger room. He did it every night, a ritual of sorts. He hated that he had to rebuild and redesign, but it gave him a chance to keep up with the times.
As soon as he swung open the door, he barreled into a tall woman who wrapped her hands around his arms to steady herself. Her scent hit him first; it was earthy mixed with the vodka that teased her breath. As soon as he steadied them so they didn’t topple over each other, her eyes hit his next. They were mismatched, and Wolf wondered if that was on purpose or her natural eye color.
The third thing that hit him was that he was currently holding his little card shark. She looked different than any other night she had been in there. Her hair was loose down her back, and she had a dusting of freckles across her face. He wondered for a second if she had the freckles anywhere else on her body and quickly shook the thought from his mind.
“Sorry about that,” he murmured, still looking at her, wondering if this was the real her or was this another facade.
“Don’t worry about it. Should have been watching where I was going.” She quickly stepped out of his hold and tried to move past him, but Wolf grabbed her arm.
She looked up at him with as much innocence as she could muster, and it made Wolf actually laugh. He had no clue who she was trying to fool, but he’d been around too long not to know the scams. “Nice try, sweetheart.” He held out his other hand in front of her. “Wallet with the money in it and my watch back, please.”
The women didn’t even try to plead her case, she just shrugged and handed Wolf his stuff back. “I must be losing my touch. That’s usually a big success.”
Wolf grabbed his watch and stuffed it into his pocket. He checked the contents of his wallet, making sure everything was still in there—he wasn’t sure how fast his little thief’s hands were.
“This is New York, sweetheart. That only works on tourists.” He tapped her chin. “Stick to counting the cards, you’re better at it.”
He walked off, not bothering to reprimand her or hear whatever pleas she was going to try and come up with. If anything, he kind of hoped him letting her go would be enough to pull her back to the casino. He wanted to see if she would take the bait and try and up her skills here. There was a sense of thrill and challenge that clung to her in a way that excited Wolf.
She’d be the perfect distraction he needed to unwind from the upcoming troubles headed his way.
SOFIA WATCHED AS THE WOMANin front of her squirmed under the weight of her stare. Sofia had that effect on people who hadn’t been hardened by life or who were hiding something. It made her wonder which side of the fence Ivy fell on.
Gia told her Ivy was the only one who had seen the dead body at the club and she seemed to be handing it well.Maybe a little too well,Sofia thought as she continued to stare at Ivy. Now that the lights were on, she was able to get a good look at the woman. She was gorgeous in a way that was soft and almost forgettable, but there was something there—something Sofia couldn’t pinpoint—and she found herself being drawn into Ivy’s orbit easily. It was like she was magnetic, and Sofia could easily see how men would be attracted to the beauty that she was.
Sofia’s gaze shifted slightly to Otto who was standing protectively behind Ivy now, and a small smile teased Sofia’s lips, wondering what it was about men that made them feel the need to either hurt women because they thought they were beneath them or, in Otto’s case, protect them. His hands were tight fists at his side, and Sofia could tell he was clenching his jaw as he stared down at her like he was waiting for her to hurt Ivy.
Sofia dropped Ivy’s hand and took a step back. She called the rest of the girls who were still at Tres over to have a seat. Gia told her about the missing employee files, and she was going to make sure the girls had escorts coming and going to Tres. Sofia didn’t want any more innocent dead bodies on her hands if she could help it.
She originally came in here to threaten every single one of the workers, but as soon as she stepped foot in Tres, she changed tactics. If the snake was in fact an employee, shouting to the rooftops that someone got one over on her wasn’t an option she was comfortable with. Sofia would rather have people think they got one up on her and let them get comfortable enough to let down their guard than ever prove they rattled her cages.
The ladies each took a seat on the barstools. Ivy plopped down on the seat she had just vacated, and Otto made sure to stay close. They were quite the pair, and Sofia wondered for a moment how they interacted when the club was open and Ivy was dancing on stage. If they were as joined at the hip as they were now, Sofia bet the nights here were about to get a little more interesting.
“Hey ladies,” Gia started, “the reason we asked you all to stay after tonight is because we wanted to share some information with you that will affect your safety.” There were some murmurs before Gia quickly commanded the room again. “This is just a precaution, and we want to make this as safe and un-nerve-wracking as possible.”
“What happened?” The question came from Mary. She was one of their longtime employees, and Sofia was able to gather from Otto during their cleaning house was that she’d been in a shitty situation, and they gave her a place to get back on her feet. They looked at her like family.
