Page 15 of No Longer Mine (Rags & Riches #2)

Chapter Thirteen

Dimitri

The Club House was neutral ground. A space where criminals could sit across from their enemies, make deals, call truces—whatever was necessary. No hits. No violence. No exceptions.

Fifty years ago, some old bastard tried to take over the drug trade here. My father shut him down. And when the man disappeared a few years back, Alexei took his place.

I wasn’t stupid.

Alexei put a hit on him and didn’t tell me. Thought he was protecting me. As if my hands weren’t already stained red by then. As if I hadn’t been killing for years before he ever caught on.

But tonight wasn’t about old turf wars.

Tonight, I was here to take care of a problem—discreetly.

This was the only place in the city with a strict no phones, no cameras policy. And since Alexei owned it, that worked in my favor.

Still, I wasn’t taking chances.

Benson had already tapped into the surrounding security feeds. If I showed up on any of them, the footage would be gone before sunrise.

I exhaled, stepping into the shadows, blending in with the dim lighting and cigarette smoke. The men and women here tonight were too distracted to care about someone lurking.

I wasn’t the first to creep around the Club House, and I wouldn’t be the last.

Alexei was late—as usual. Either he was giving me time to enjoy what I’d been missing for far too long, or he just didn’t give a shit about my schedule.

Either way, I was enjoying myself. Until a flash of crimson made my dick hard. My body tensed, and I blinked.

No.

The little thief who broke into my house? Here? What were the goddamn odds? I leaned deeper into the shadows, eyes locked on her as she spun around the pole, her red curls whipping through the air.

But she wasn’t a stripper.

She wasn’t working the crowd. She wasn’t bending down to collect the piles of cash tossed on stage.

Instead, she pulled a wad of bills free from her lace bra and threw them at the brunette stripper finishing her set.

My brows lifted slightly. I exhaled slowly. Alexei would be here any minute. But my focus had already shifted. I shoved my hands in my pockets, watching as she hopped down from the stage, bending over to grab her sky-high heels.

Fuck.

I had to talk myself down. I wasn’t here for an easy fuck. I wasn’t here for her. I was here to handle business. But I still found myself waiting, lingering by the dimly lit hallway near the bathrooms. Because if she came this way, if she stepped just a little too close?—

Then maybe, just maybe?—

I’d finally get some answers.

And if I was lucky?

I’d scare her just enough to make her regret ever crossing me.