Page 81 of Bound By A Promise
“You, Dario.” I hesitated. “Reinaldo called me a few days ago.”
Aléjandro nodded. “He told me.”
“I should have been the one to clear the air about Camila.” I should have been. I could blame the fact that I’d been bogged down in hunting for proof of Herrera’s involvement against the Roríguez cartel. And then there’s the fact I wanted to spend every waking moment with my new wife. Of course, business with the famiglia was always a factor, such as Emerald Club being raided a few nights ago.
Those would all be excuses. Reinaldo made the move, and I was humbled by his gesture.
“You two good?” Aléjandro asked.
“Yeah. He didn’t know that I’d made a move on Camila.”
“I mean, I knew. I didn’t know that Andrés changed his mind or that Rei was in the running until that ball was already rolling. Glad you two talked. We all need to be together on this.If Herrera is behind it, we need to have proof.Mi padrewon’t make a move on another cartel without evidence.”
“Our fucking father was the opposite. Blame, attack, kill, and then justify.”
I headed the car toward the club to my office. “Lorenzo found something I want to show you before we head to the apartments.”
Parking the car in the lot beside Emerald Club, Aléjandro and I walked toward the front door. “You’ve been here before, haven’t you?”
My brother-in-law shook his head. “No, I’ve wanted to check it out, but the timing was never right.”
“When Dario became capo, he moved his office to his apartment and upped security there. I always thought Rocco would take over the responsibility of Emerald Club, but…”
“Yeah,” Aléjandro said with more than a side of sarcasm. “Things didn’t work out so well for him. I’m not sorry.”
“So, the club is mine, and I’m fucking spread too thin. I’m training a few of our trusted soldiers to run things here.”
Enzo met us at the door. “Mr. Luciano.” He nodded.
“Enzo, this is Mr. Roríguez, my brother-in-law.” I wasn’t certain of Enzo’s statistics or what qualified for the term giant, but he was damn close.
“Sir,” Enzo greeted.
“Too bad you couldn’t have found a bigger dude to watch the door,” Aléjandro said, his gaze sweeping from the ceiling over the main portion of the building that went up three stories with catwalks and large spotlights in the rafters. Taking off his sunglasses, he studied the staircase that led to the second floor and windows that looked down from my office on the third floor.
“Second floor is VIP,” I said, “Better liquor, private entertainment, and gambling. We were raided a few nights ago. ATF claimed they had proof we were facilitating the saleof illegal drugs, serving alcohol to minors, and profiting from prostitution.”
“What did they find?”
“Not a damn thing. We have our contacts with KSPD who tipped us off. They caught wind of the warrant. We were squeaky clean.”
Aléjandro laughed as we made our way to the elevator. “Someone deserves a payoff.”
“Always.”
We boarded the elevator, taking it straight to the third floor. My office was just off and to the right. “Come in.”
“Nice,” he said, looking around. He peered through the windows that looked down to the first floor.
“Through the back room, there’s a view of the hallway to the private VIP rooms.”
“ATF didn’t question the private rooms?”
“We’re a private club. If a member wants some alone time with his or her friend or loved one, we offer the space. Maybe they just want some quiet time.”
“Plausible answer.”
I nodded. “Have a seat behind the desk. I want to show you what Lorenzo found.” Aléjandro sat in my tall leather chair as I brought my computer to life. “His office is downstairs. We can talk to him later. He was having the same issues with the LLC as Reinaldo. Lorenzo decided to go another route and follow the money. He went back in time.” I clicked the mouse and brought up the screenshots of the Goodins’ bank statements. “You bought your house…”