As I flipped through the legal documents for the new branch of Club Lunaire, a series of frantic knocks echoed through my office. Tonight, I was working at the office of Club Lunaire, the first club I opened, my baby, the one that helped me make my mark in the industry.
“Come in,” I called out.
Kevin, the club manager, nervously stepped inside. At twenty-eight, he had been a great employee, detail-oriented and great with patrons, until he got promoted a few weeks ago.
Triple-booking the VIP lounge and understaffing shifts were just a couple of the nuisances I’d dealt with since his promotion; with the number of times he knocked on my door or called me during his shift if I wasn't around, I wondered why I hadn't fired him yet. From the wide-eyed expression on his face, it was clear that he had fucked up, again.
His voice shook as he spoke. “Mr. Quantum. There was a fire in the storage room.”
Warning signals went off in my head. My jaw clenched as I leaned back in my chair, my green eyes locking with Kevin’s terrified brown ones.
“Was? So that means the fire is out?” My voice came out eerily calm.
Freaking out now, since the fire appeared to be under control, wasn’t going to help anyone.
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you know how it started?”
“No, sir. I went to get something from the stock for the bar and saw the fire. I acted quickly and used the fire extinguisher before the fire got out of hand.”
At least Kevin was able to do one thing right! But something nagged at the crevices of my brain. The storage room was a floor below the club and could only be accessed by staff.
“Do the patrons know what happened?”
“No, sir. But we’ve never had a fire before, and I was unsure how to handle it. Should we close the club?” The words tumbled out of Kevin’s mouth as he shifted from one foot to the next.
I lifted an eyebrow. “Was it an electrical fire?”
“No, sir. It started in the corner of the room, away from anything electrical.”
“Good. Then the club stays open. No staff member is allowed to leave until I give the ok. Any staff member who disobeys will be held for attempted arson. I’ll be down soon.”
Kevin nodded slightly and turned to leave.
“And Kevin…”
Kevin turned back to look at me, and my gaze darkened.
“If word of this gets out to the public, every member of staff in this club will be fired. Do you understand?”
Kevin nodded again before he hurried away.
I tugged my burgundy blazer off the back of my chair and slipped it over my short-sleeved black linen shirt, covering the tattoos that ran along my arms. I hated suits, usually wearing a short-sleeved shirt and keeping a blazer on hand in case of important meetings.
At thirty-six, as the CEO of Quantum Enterprises, the umbrella company for my nine soon-to-be ten Club Lunaire locations and eight Moonlit Bar and Lounges across the state, I was proud of my success, and business had been thriving perfectly, up until about a year ago.
Business had been rough. It started with minor issues like an increase in employee resignations, suppliers missing deadlines, and terminated contracts with vendors. It was stressful, yes, but manageable. But now, with Eso’s boys breathing down my neck for their protection fee and this fire, things were definitely escalating. And I didn’t like it.
I picked up my phone off my desk and dialed Tony, my head bouncer and the head of my security team, who answered immediately.
“Boss.”
“Tony, meet me with two men in the storage room. Now.” I cut the call and exited the office.
I strode briskly down the stairs, my braided, long blonde hair brushing my back as I entered the dance floor. It was a Saturday night, and the club was packed. The flashing lights of the club bounced off the walls as patrons danced, synced with the lively music. I weaved through the crowd, and it wasn’t long before I stood in front of a door that read “Employees Only.”
After pushing it open, I descended the stairs two at a time. Once at the bottom, I made my way to the only door in the short hallway. I removed my key card from my blazer pocket, inserted it into the door and stepped into the room, with Tony and two of his men entering shortly after. A hint of smoke and chemicals lingered in the air.
Immediately, my eyes landed on the corner of the room, where the once cream-colored walls were now a dark ash grey. As we approached, my eyes lingered on the scorch marks on the shelves and crates that held the alcohol for the bar. Some bottles were cracked, and trickles of alcohol trailed outside of the bottles. But something caught my eye in one of the charred boxes on the floor that was delivered today.
I nudged the metal object with the tip of my boot. After removing a handkerchief from my pants pocket, I picked up the object with it. Short wires dangled from it.
“It looks like some sort of timer,” I muttered to no one in particular.
Tony came up behind me. “Looks like a small explosive device made by an amateur. I’m guessing they were hoping for a bigger explosion, based on the fact that this room is filled with flammable liquid, but it probably malfunctioned.”
“Lucky us,” I said dryly.
But unlucky for the people who thought they’d get away with this.
The fact that it seemed to have been snuck in through a delivery package put me on high alert. Yet, I was relieved that none of the staff had maliciously planted the device. I made a mental note that all packages entering all branches must be checked from now on.
Tonight could’ve ended up in disaster, lives lost, and millions of dollars gone up in flames. The last thing I needed was for the tabloids to get wind of this just as I was about to open a new branch.
Two months ago while hanging out at Dominic’s place, the oldest of us six Quantum boys, Tony called to say that some of Eso’s boys had shown up demanding a protection fee to ensure nothing happened to my chain of clubs, bars and lounges across the state.
Eso and I went way back. He was a part of the gang I joined after my parents died when I was fifteen. Now, he was the gang leader.
My security team had been searching for Eso for weeks, but he was nowhere to be found. Checks had been made, and we knew he was still in the country, but that was all the intel I had so far. After tonight, I planned on personally going to our old hideout to ruffle a few feathers to find Eso myself. Just because I dressed differently now didn’t mean the old Sebastien couldn’t be resurrected.
“Tony, I need you and your men to check the rest of the boxes delivered today to ensure there are no other explosive devices. Then, check this building thoroughly. Call the other establishments and have your men check there, too. No one outside of the security team is to know about this. Keep it discreet.”
“Yes, boss.”
As I turned and walked out of the room, I heard Tony barking orders on his phone as his men opened the rest of the delivery boxes.
Just as I returned to my office to grab my car keys, my cell phone rang. It was Vega, my most trusted hacker. If it had been uploaded or stored on any device connected to the internet, he’d find it. When Dominic’s wife, Emily, and his seven-year-old daughter, Lucy, were kidnapped, Vega had been the one who tracked Lucy’s necklace.
Vega was just one of my connections on the street, a reminder of the life I used to live. I may have stepped away from the streets, but I didn’t let the streets step away from me.
“Sir, Eso was found at the bottom of Silvermill Lake a few hours ago. The report estimates that he’s been dead for approximately eight weeks. He was so badly decomposed that they had to use his dental records to identify him.”
FUCK!
This timeline meant Eso had already been dead when I received the first set of threats from his boys. If Eso didn’t give the order, then who the hell did?
“Find out who took over from Eso, and who killed him or had him killed. You have videos from when his boys visited the club. Gather all of them for questioning.”
“Got it, boss.”
The line went dead.
I pocketed my phone and poured myself a drink. My fingers were tight around the glass as I thought about Eso. He had been the guy who took me under his wing when I entered the gang all those years ago. He taught me everything I needed to know to survive. And when I told him I wanted out, he understood and helped me get out. We may not have been as close as we once were, but I felt as though someone had stabbed me in the heart and was twisting the knife. I couldn’t help but feel restless. Not only did someone take him out, but now they were targeting me and my business. What was the connection?
I gulped down the brown liquid, feeling the burn slide down my throat before I replaced the glass on the tray and returned to my seat. Between the fire and learning about Eso’s death, I wanted to break something. But, over the years, I’ve learned to keep my cool under pressure.
For a moment, I considered calling Dominic, but after everything he had been through in the past year and a half, burdening him with something I could handle didn’t sit right with me. He needed a break to enjoy his family and their newest addition, five-month-old Lillian.
I needed to focus on something I could control to keep myself in check. I picked up the pile of applications that Caite, my secretary, had faxed me earlier that afternoon. With the new club set to open in a month, I had yet to find an event planner with a portfolio that met my expectations.
While scanning the applications, my eyes fell upon a familiar name with a picture attached: Delilah Malone.
“When did Delilah become an event planner?” I murmured to myself as I read through her application.
Delilah Malone was the younger sister of Dean Malone, who has been my best friend since childhood. The last thing I remember Dean mentioning about Delilah was that she was working for some hotshot magazine.
Delilah had been that super annoying, pigtail-wagging, braces-wearing little sister who always wanted to hang around her brother. What made it worse was that their mom insisted we take Delilah with us, every time. As a result, we often pulled pranks on Delilah, and what made it even funnier was how easily she fell for them.
After Dean and I got into college, I only really saw her at Dean’s birthday or Christmas when I’d go with Dean to visit his parents. The last time I saw her was through a blurry picture that Dean showed me of her college graduation, but Dean kept me updated on how she was doing when we hung out over the years.
Before I knew what I was doing, my fingers clicked away on my keyboard, pulling up her social media profiles. She didn’t post many pictures unrelated to her event-planning business, which she started about three months ago. If she did, it was either selfies with Dean or alone. She shared the books she read and which dishes she loved in a few restaurant reviews. Her timeline wasn’t exciting; no dating history, no clubbing with friends, and no dumb pics or videos for likes. Her life was totally boring, making her the perfect candidate. With everything going on, I didn’t need any unnecessary drama. And the fact that I knew her would make her working for me so much easier.
I picked up my desk phone and dialed Caite. And even though it was eleven p.m. on a Saturday, she picked up on the second ring.
“Hello, Mr. Quantum. How can I be of assistance?”
“Set up an interview with Delilah Malone at the new club tomorrow. Time: ten a.m. Inform her that an interested client requires her services. Refrain from mentioning my name.”
“Will there be anything else, sir?”
“That will be all for now.”
I hung up and leaned back in my chair, the picture of Delilah still on my computer screen. Her brown hair fell in waves around her face and a thin line of freckles scattered across her nose. The twinkle in her blue-grey eyes and something about her smile, which was now braces-free, formed a knot in my chest I couldn’t explain.
I pushed thoughts of her aside, locked my computer and exited my office. Tonight I’d be on guard to protect what I had built. If anything else played out tonight, not only would I be ready, but the culprits would regret the day they were born.