Page 3 of Dangerous Men (Fortune City Mafia #1)

ALEC’S NIGHT

Magnetic .

That’s the only way to describe her. Even when I try to look away, this woman’s presence pulls me back.

I’m hypnotized by her—the way she moves, the way her hips sway in perfect time with the thumping club music.

It’s been a while since I’ve bothered picking up a beautiful woman for a night of casual fun. Maybe tonight I’ll indulge.

A little fun could be exactly what I need.

I’m only at this miserable club tonight to close this business deal, but she caught my eye the second she made her way onto the dance floor with her friend.

A perfect temptation, with those long chestnut curls cascading down her back, golden skin glowing under the flashing lights, and that tight red dress clinging to every curve of her body.

A few more sways of those sinful hips and her dress might ride up just enough to see exactly what I’m looking for…

As if sensing my eyes on her, she stills. Her hand brushes the nape of her neck, and her gaze scans the crowd, searching. But she doesn’t see me, hidden in the shadows of the second-floor balcony, watching her every move.

What would she be like, I wonder, if I got her alone? If I had her all to myself?

I’m eager to find out.

With one last cautious glance around the club, my mystery woman takes her friend’s arm, and they weave through the crowd toward the bar. I track her movements, my eyes drinking in every curve, imagining how they’d feel underneath me. Under my tongue.

“So … we’ve got a deal?” Tony asks, dragging me back to the present. He pushes the contract toward me over the dark surface of the table between us. Reluctantly, I turn my attention back to him. The woman in red can wait.

Tony Delmano. What a pathetic excuse for a man. How he scraped together even a fraction of power in this city is beyond me. If my brothers and I didn’t need the shipment of weapons he’s currently selling, I’d be tempted to leave right now and join that little seductress downstairs, deal be damned.

But expansion requires firepower. And firepower requires working with Tony.

“As long as the shipment is on time, we’ve got a deal,” I tell him, pushing the contract back to him without sparing it a glance. “But I don’t sign this sort of paperwork. You should know that.”

As if a man of my social standing in Fortune City would be caught dead signing an illegal weapons deal.

Tony balks as he takes the contract back, shuffling the papers nervously. “Of course, of course. Sorry, man.” I turn in my seat, dismissing him as my eyes drift back toward the dance floor, but he keeps talking. “Hey, while you’re here…”

My jaw tightens, and I turn back to him, letting the full weight of my stare settle on him until he shifts in his seat .

Tony wets his lips before he speaks. “You know, business at The Pink Panther has been going well…”

The Pink Panther? My brows furrow. It takes me a moment to recall that particular property and even longer to remember that Tony here manages it, in addition to the club we’re currently meeting in.

The Pink Panther is so inconsequential it’s beneath my notice, nothing but a seedy strip club that was shut down twice for health code violations before my brothers and I purchased it.

I keep staring at Tony until he swallows hard, losing his nerve.

“And?” I ask, quirking a dark brow.

He stutters, speaking more to the tabletop than to me. “And…I was thinking maybe… maybe business would be even better if the, uh… if the girls could do more than just dance, if you know what I mean?”

Obviously, I know what he means. Tony has all the subtlety of a brick to the head.

“Like that other place you run, The Second Circle,” Tony continues, listing one of the more lucrative hotels in the Sterling empire.

My empire. “You’ve got a good operation there.

I was thinking we could do something similar with the Panther, you know?

Have the dancers give customers more than just lap dances in the backroom. Hire some working girls.”

“Sex workers,” I correct, drumming my fingers on the table. My patience is growing thin, and I already know where he’s going with this. He needs to get there quickly.

“Sure, sure. Sex workers.” Tony waves the term away like it doesn’t matter. “You know. Some real classy bitches.”

I wonder what Francesca would say if she heard this overgrown boy masquerading as a man calling her employees bitches . One look from the madam who manages The Second Circle would probably be enough to make Tony wet himself .

“And who did you have in mind to manage them?” I ask, humoring him.

Tony looks confused. “Well… me, obviously.”

Obviously.

I lean over the table toward him, and he earns a few points for not visibly flinching. He does fidget, though, his hands nervously touching the papers in front of him.

“I don’t let men manage the sex workers who work for me,” I tell him, cutting right to the chase. “They do a shitty job of it, and they only think with their dicks.”

Tony opens his mouth to argue, but I cut him off.

“You’re lucky I even let you keep running that dump you call a strip club.

” I stand then, pushing my chair back and straightening the cuffs of my suit jacket.

Tony’s eyes dart to the gun on my hip before I twitch my jacket over it to cover it.

“Stay in your lane, Tony. And if you bring this up to me again, it won’t be me or Ashton you’ll be speaking with. It’ll be one of my other brothers.”

I watch the blood drain from his face, leaving him pale beneath his cheap facial tattoos. The businessmen of this city are right to be frightened of Ashton and me.

But they’re downright terrified of Sebastian and Viper.

“Are we done here?” I ask, buttoning my jacket. It’s not really a question, and he knows it. I am telling him that our business has concluded for the night.

“All good, yeah. We’re all good here,” he says, nerves betraying him as he stumbles over the words.

This is par for the course when doing business with lower-level thugs who think they’re important. Who think their ideas are worth anything at all to me. They talk a big game, with big dreams, until they realize they are woefully outmatched and outgunned.

Make them fear you . That had been the first of Dante’s lessons when we’d gone to work for him. Make them fear you even more than they fear death. That’s how you take a city. That’s how you build an empire.

My eyes go back to the first floor of the club, and I feel an unexpected rush of relief when I spot her again, seated at a table with her pink-haired friend. My woman in red.

There’s still a chance to end this night right.

As I watch, though, two of Tony’s peons approach, sliding into the open chairs at their table.

It’s obvious even at this distance that the women aren’t interested, but Tony’s men seem to have trouble taking the hint.

She shifts away, distancing herself, but one of them keeps encroaching on her, moving into her personal space.

He moves closer to talk to her, and as he does, his hand hovers over her drink for a heartbeat too long. Then, with a practiced flick of his fingers while she’s distracted, he slips something inside.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I snarl.

That bastard is trying to drug someone. In my club. In my fucking club.

I storm away from the table, leaving a confused and sputtering Tony in my wake. Fury drives me down the stairs to the first floor, straight through the crowd, muscling people aside.

I couldn’t give a shit about the drugs in my city. I know for a fact Tony runs harder stuff than liquor out of this miserable place, and as long as I get my cut, I keep out of his business.

But drugging a woman? That’s not business—it’s pathetic. And those two may as well have signed their death warrants for attempting it. Not in my city. Not in my clubs. Not ever.

I’m close enough to see them when she suddenly stands, and before I can shout out a warning, she turns to leave.

Good , I think. Get the fuck away from him. Now.

But then he grabs her. His hand clamps around her wrist, yanking her back.

If I were closer, I wouldn’t hesitate—I would have already broken his hand, or maybe worse.

Hell, I wouldn’t even think twice about putting my gun to his temple and blowing his brains out right in the middle of this club, fuck the consequences.

A lesson clearly needed.

But I’m not close enough. Not yet.

Instead, her voice cuts through the music—sharp, furious, shaking with rage—and then she does something I don’t expect. She throws not one, but two drinks directly into his face.

It stops me in my tracks, a shocked laugh breaking free before I can catch it.

Who is this woman?

That fire, that fight—I wasn’t expecting it.

Reading people is something I’m good at. Fuck, it’s something I’m great at. Of the four of us, only Sebastian is better at understanding people and anticipating what they’ll do next.

It’s always been a point of pride with me that I’m ten steps ahead of everyone. But this woman—this little seductress—she’s a surprise. Something wild. Something unexpected.

I’m standing there, still grinning in shock, when they come barreling through the crowd toward me. For a fraction of a second, her body collides with mine, and her curves press against me in a fleeting, electrifying moment...

And then she’s gone, she and her friend vanishing into the crowd, racing toward the back door.

Tony’s two peons are now hysterically shouting for the waitstaff to call 911, claiming assault. With one last glance at the emergency exit as it closes, I shove my way toward them and their whining.

When I reach them, my gaze drops to the table, and my stomach sinks.

Next to the two drinks she threw, her glass is empty. She drank it. The whole damn thing, including whatever this bastard slipped inside.

I wasn’t fast enough.