Page 105 of Renascence

“Because they start digging into you, it leads them to me. Then they start digging into the club, and that’s a shit-ton of problems. We’ll handle it.”

“Okay,” I agree, not wanting to cause trouble for him.

“It’s late. Try to get some sleep.”

I close my eyes, but all I can see is the image of me in the shower. Eventually I fall into a fitful sleep, haunted by dreams of flashing cameras and snakes biting off the heads of men.

***Venom***

I stare at the computer screen, watching a dark-haired woman look around cautiously before entering the showers with a cell phone in hand. She’s definitely the one who took the picture, because no one else went in or out while Emily was in there. I’ve also never seen her in the gym before. Tek brings up the information he found on her using facial recognition software, but there’s not much to go on. At least we have an address.

Gage’s phone rings and he puts it on speaker, laying it on the table. “Crow,” he says.

“I’m here, Prez.”

“What did you find?” I ask, leaning over the table and closer to the phone.

“You’ll never guess who rolled in for lunch,” Crow answers.

“Who?”

“That asshole from the fight.”

“Interesting,” Gage says. “You find out anything about him?”

“Yeah. Name’s Luigi Vitalli. He owns the place.”

Tek starts clacking away at his computer and I know we’ll have every piece of information about this fucker in a few minutes.

“Stay on him, Crow. We’re going to check out the girl on the security footage.”

“Got it, Prez.”

Gage disconnects the call and turns to me. “How’s Emily?”

“Not good. She’s scared and confused. Talked about going to the police last night, but I convinced her that wasn’t an option.”

“Good. Last thing we need is the cops snooping around.”

“I know.”

“Who’s this Vitalli asshole?” Razor asks. “That night at the fight, he knew who we were. How the fuck don’t we know him?”

“Tek?” I prod him for an update.

“Luigi Vitalli. Big-time loan shark operating in Atlanta. He also owns a couple other places. Got a laundry list of charges, but nothing’s stuck. He’s gotten away every time.”

“Loan shark? I’ve never even heard of this asshole. What issue could he have with me?” Gage leans back in his chair, his question directed at no one in particular.

“Think it has something to do with The Pharmacist?” Rico asks.

The fucking Pharmacist. I’m getting tired of hearing that name. We already dealt with that motherfucker, so I doubt this involves him.

“There’s something here about his son, Luca, being arrested for murder,” Tek adds. “Looks like he was daddy’s muscle. Trial’s in a couple weeks.”

“Where’s he being held?” I ask.

“State.”