Chapter 49

I don’t know what his business entails when he’s not and I would rather never find out, to be honest.
Seeing glimpses of some of the men he deals with and knowing he never has his phone away from him
at all hours, day or night, has given me a rough idea that his empire and responsibilities are huge.

He carries a lot while still maintaining a dominant stance and unbreakable demeanour to his enemies
all around, while they play nice to his face. No wonder he is such a psycho.

I wouldn’t last five minutes doing what he does; it’s why he’s so good at manipulation and coercing
people and situations. I can see why he is what he is, but it doesn’t make me forgive him in any way or
swallow it any better. He’s cold because he is immune to suffering and death. He has probably killed
his fair share of people in the last nineteen years since he first pulled that trigger, and I don’t doubt with
every single one he lost a little bit of his humanity.

I could never do it, never pull a trigger and take a life no matter how much I hate some people. It’s not
in me and I don’t think I could live with the images playing in my head after.

He keeps people at a distance, except his blood of course, they are all close-knit and compact as one
fluid unit. That much was obvious in the interaction with Mico and Arrick. The Carreros are a family who
stay close, trust one another and have each other’s back. He cares about them, they care about each
other and if you are lucky enough to be one of his family, like Sophie, then he makes sure nothing ever
happens to you.

Alexi moves mountains for the people he loves, and despite his cold bastard nature, I think he does
and is capable of love. He knows how to care and nurture he just chooses not to. Not when it comes to
women he fucks anyway.

That kind of love is something he is not open to at all. Alexi is a protector for the ones he allows himself
to care for, and I am just an outsider looking in who never even scraped the surface of his armour. It’s
depressing knowing no matter what I try and tell myself, he doesn’t care about me even a little bit.



‘’Good, you’re up. Here.’’ Alexi’s voice from behind startles me and I jump as I turn to him and try to
regain my composure fast, to not show he’s rattled me. I wasn’t expecting him to break the silent
treatment so soon. He looks completely deadpan this morning, no hint of anything under the surface
just cool, controlled and groomed to perfection in a light shirt and chinos. He holds out a clipboard to
me and I take it gracefully, eyes scanning the first page which is a list of tonight’s guests.

Trying to ignore my physical reaction and keep myself together. Trying not to show him he makes me
jumpy, nervy and just fall to bits when he gets too close. It’s like his presence makes me forget
everything else and we seem to just start from the here and now. It’s creepy and uncanny, I am not
sure I like the ability to sweep it all away and act like mature adults in the new light of day. Not after all
he has done.

I tip my chin down and scan the paperwork in a bid to drive my mind on something non-Alexi.

‘‘Only fifteen?’’ I query, confused by the drop in booked rooms tonight when the club has been packed
full since opening. One thing which will always take precedence over my fragile emotions, over him—
the running of MY club. It’s my baby and I dislike it when someone else changes something to make it
run differently to how I do it.

I created this place, tweaked it and caressed it beautifully into the pristine power palace it is … no one
gets to fuck with that. I missed this place like crazy when he sent me away and it’s the one place I feel
at home.

‘‘It’s intentional. I made Joanne keep the numbers low, so we can give certain guests more options and
more attention.’’

Joanne … I don’t even want to open that little jar of poison just yet. I have yet to see the bitch he has
put in my place in both this club and his bed. I try to focus on what I have in my hand but my heart is
hammering and twisting itself inside out in pain.



Don’t let him get to you Camilla, he knows exactly what he’s doing.

‘’So which ones? So I can make sure their demands are met and their girls are extra attentive.’’ I purr at
him, my façade firmly in place, making sure I show no interest at his mention of her. Or the fact I am
internally brewing a storm at how he has changed the rota and the plans without consulting me first.

My club, my rota, my way of doing things!!!

‘‘Number six on the list, Mercurio … He’s important and demanding. Multiple girls, a constant flow of
booze and product, and he likes to bring his closest to shadow him. His party is four men so that
bumps up the numbers.’’ I scan the list and see a Robert Mercurio tagged as CEO of some business
name that rings a bell. I think it’s something to do with shipping containers and I wonder if this is who
helps him get his weapons around.

‘‘Check. Multiple girls, food, booze, blow all night and extra special sucking up to him and his minions.’’

I make a mental note to scan the member profiles and memorise his face for arrival, so I can greet him
myself. The personal touch is always a good angle for ego brushing.

‘’Last two on the list, no girls and no blow … just booze and royalty treatment. Put them in the upstairs
VIP lounge and close it off so no one can stray up there without an access card. They want privacy.’’
Alexi is in all business approach and I can handle him when he’s like this. Focused, emotionally stable
and completely disinterested in me. ‘’Carreros?’’ I catch the last two names and blink up at him in
surprise.

‘‘My father and uncle, they’re coming by to see what I have built here. I trust their counsel and I respect
their opinions, both still have a hand in our family’s responsibilities so I want them treated as such.
They are meeting some business acquaintances that are booked in here, so mostly I want them left
alone.’’



I look back at the list, Giovanni and Dimitri and I nod, completely intrigued that I am about to meet two
of his peers who are not only important to him but direct blood links. His father, the man who moulded
him, and I have heard Giovanni mentioned by Mico before, the uncle who plays a silent role but is still
very much embroiled. Interesting.

‘’But no girls?’’ I repeat to be sure.

‘‘No. No girls.’’

‘’Boys?’’ I wink mischievously, despite my reservations around him and I smile naughtily, dropping it
when I see the furious glare thrown my way. Alexi is okay with gay, but it seems not when daddy and
uncle are the centre of the joke.

I clear my throat and look away from the intensity of those greys trying to impale me and lose my
inkling of jest. Reminding myself that an anally retentive psycho stands before me.

‘‘No boys. No drugs. They don’t partake, just treat them like they matter more than anyone else in here
tonight, and you won’t piss me off.’’

‘‘I didn’t think that was possible.’’ I joke sarcastically, mouth over brain and then sigh at myself for this
inability to just stop trying to get a rise out of him. I lose my bravado, face paling as I catch yet another
unimpressed look thrown at me and go back to my list. So much for wearing my mask of sassy and
indifference. Like all my best-laid plans … they go to shit when faced with him.

‘‘Any kink requests that I need to cover?’’ I go back to flicking the papers, diverting his rage and note
it’s mostly invoices for deliveries due today and some little hints on client requests … Caviar and
oysters for room fifteen.

For the love of God, sometimes this feels like a hotel and not a brothel of sorts.



‘’Taylor … room four. He’s bringing some of his own whores tonight, so whatever he does to them in his
own room, as long as they are not ours then do not intervene. Brief security, he wasn’t impressed with
our safe word policy and the limits on what he can do to the girls and this is the compromise.’’ Alexi
actually sounds annoyed at that, strangely.

‘’Why can’t he just do that shit in his own club if he wants to torture women, instead of leaving his mess
here for us to clean up?’’ I bite, unusually piqued with sudden anger.


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