Lady Night

Chapter three

I was supposed to reach out to Marafi the moment I uncovered anything about the Russo Family or their companies. As well as report immediately on anything I could find out about Giovanni or his deals.

What Marafi didn't tell me and what I had no idea how to do was how the hell I was supposed to get close to Giovanni Russo. If I was supposed to work in his bar or in his club, how the hell would I find out information from him? About him? About the other Russo companies?

It's true that at APEX, along with serving drinks, I returned information from drunk patrons to my boss. Powerful people drank in these clubs, and they liked to tell their secrets to pretty girls who poured their cocktails. But the pretty girls listen and they don't forget.

Antonio Marafi was one of the most well-informed men in Vegas.

Perhaps Giovanni Russo wanted me to be his little bird too. And just like Marafi, he'd probably keep me in a cage.

But as I stepped into Elysium's lobby- what a beautiful cage it would be.

The marble floor was decorated with an ornate eggshell pattern with floor to ceiling pillars of the same color marble. Crystal chandeliers, one large one in the center, and smaller ones surrounding it, dangled from the ceiling in drops of flickering light.

Thick rugs of red and gold tassels felt expensive under my tennis shoes. I had to walk half a mile and take a bus to get here, and already I felt out of place. A slight sheen of sweat sat on my forehead from the Nevada summer, but it chilled on my body while I looked around the lobby.

While everything in APEX was nice, Elysium was a display of opulent grandiosity. Even as I gaped at the chandeliers, I was pretty sure a famous pop star walked past me to check out.

"Sabina?"

I whirled around at the sound of my name to face a blonde woman, about my age, approaching with a wide and welcoming smile on her face. Just as I was about to reach out my hand, she pulled me into a hug. For a brief awkward moment, I hung there limply in her arms.

"I'm Lane! It's so nice to meet you," she spoke quickly and with a lot of excitement. "I can't wait to work together! I'm here to show you to where you can set up and give you a tour.

Don't hesitate to ask any dumb questions, because I promise I've asked them before too."

I laughed a little, feeling slightly comforted at the fact that this girl hadn't lost any of her pep.

If this place couldn't kill Lane's joy, then maybe it wouldn't kill me.

She took me on a tour of the resort, showing me first around the hotel portion which boasted a slew of high end designer stores, one five star restaurant, and a private spa. Then down to the sprawling casino where, even at 4 in the afternoon, hundreds of people sat hoping for a bit of luck.

If the house always wins in normal casinos, then the house probably dominated at a Russo-owned casino.

Lane took me next to the two nightclubs. Similar to APEX, one of the nightclubs was meant for the kind of sweaty dancing that one could only do in the comfort of dark neon lights. The other, a VIP lounge, was for a more discrete and relaxed clientele. The ones who could pay to get in to it.

She led me behind the bar, chattering all the while and introduced me to two of the bartenders who were already there doing inventory, Damian and Logan. They both seemed nice enough, though Damian did watch Lane walk away for a little bit too long.

The other girl didn't notice. Interesting.

My first instinct was to wonder if I might be able to use that against them somehow. The thought dropped quickly from my mind the moment Lane made another terrible pun and laughed at it.

Silently, I made a mental note to myself. If I was going to have to ruin things here, I was going to make sure Lane was left unscathed.

"So where do we work?" I asked as she led me upstairs to the VIP lounge. So far she hadn't specifically pointed out which bar, club, or lounge I would be in.

Her brow furrowed at my question.

"Oh," she hesitated, 'I guess he didn't tell you then."

I gave her a blank stare. "Tell me what?"

Instead of answering, she led me across the marble floor to the door behind the VIP bar.

Where APEX was all cushion and carpets, Elysium was cool sophistication. Later tonight, when the lights would go down, it would be its own realm.

"This is where your office is," Lane said, opening the door into the hallway space behind the bar.

She motioned to the door toward the end of the narrow hall. I gaped when I opened it.

Two large windows faced out onto the street where I could see the High Roller Ferris wheel.

A mahogany desk sat in the center of the room with a computer. It wasn't a huge space, but I'd never had my own office before.

My office? What exactly did the Russo's have their bartenders do?

"Do you have an office?" I asked Lane.

She laughed. "You saw that bar out there, right?

That's my office."

I glanced back at the ornate bookshelves lining the walls with various boxes and files. Maybe there was something in there I could report back to Marafi. If this was truly mine, then I suppose I would be allowed as much time as I wanted to go through them.

Lane seemed to recognize my confusion and was about to fill me in, but her mouth shut suddenly and her posture went slightly taut. Her blue eyes flicked above my shoulder and I could hear the sound of heavy footsteps before that familiar scent filled my senses.

Tobacco and sage.

"Thank you, Lane." The voice was slightly accented. Deep. Demanding. "I can continue the orientation."

Lane sucked in a shallow breath, but still smiled at the approaching figure. I didn't need to turn to know who the voice belonged to. The other girl's reaction was interesting.

She appeared wary of him, but the same way one would be if they saw their boss anywhere else. Still, she wasn't afraid of him like she ought to be. Perhaps she wasn't afraid because he wasn't the head of the family, but that didn't seem right either. Even if Giovanni Russo wasn't the head, he was still related to whoever was. He was still untouchable.

Lane excused herself, sending me a genuine smile and leaving me alone with Giovanni Russo in a hallway.

I glanced up at him, arching a brow and remaining as calm as I was capable. He, however, did not spare me a second look before letting himself into the space that was apparently my office. After a moment of inspecting the space, he leaned against the mahogany desk and looked at me.

Caramel eyes sinking into my blue ones, holding my gaze as he'd done before that night at APEX.

I imagine he encountered many people who struggled to meet that gaze. I wouldn't be one of them.

"Welcome to your new position, Miss Night."

"Thank you," I said automatically. Then after a moment, "what exactly is my position here?"

He crossed his arms over his chest, and I struggled not to notice. Giovanni Russo had lost the suit jacket this time, and wore only a crisp white button up shirt cuffed and pushed to his elbows and a well-fitting pair of gray slacks.

Tanned muscles and inky tattoos poked out from the shirt. I didn't notice them.

"Club manager," he picked up a file from the desk and tossed it to me. "The lower club, of course."

I scanned the first few documents quickly: data from the club's last quarter in sales. I glanced back up at him and there was the same amused arrogance on his face from the first time we met.

"Manager?" The word came out almost as a squeak.

He shrugged. "You said business analytics, didn't you?" I nodded and he continued.

"Elysium is profitable, but not as profitable as my brother would like it to be."

His brother. Don Russo. My ears perked at the reference, but I didn't dare inquire further into him. At least, not yet.

Yesterday I was a bartender at a completely different club across town and now this?

Something wasn't adding up. Nobody just got these positions on a whim. Even if it was on the whim of a Russo brother.

"Why me?" I finally asked.

He frowned, rubbing a broad hand along his jaw. Small black stubble grew along the defined jawline that hadn't been there when he went to see Marafi. In fact, he looked slightly more disheveled than he was at that meeting. At that meeting, he was the picture of poise and clean cut. Today, he looked a little more like a human.

Like he'd pulled himself away from a heap of work to take over my orientation.

"You know the clubs," he said like it was obvious. "You know how they work, how they run. You know the numbers. We'd just like the numbers to be a bit bigger in our lower club."

Again, that amused smirk. I hid my eye-roll by glancing down at the file again. Glancing up at him, his expression looked a little darker. Maybe I hadn't hidden the eye-roll well enough.

"So, will I still be bartending?"

Broad shoulders went up in a shrug once again.

"If Lane and the others need help and you want to, then yes. If you don't want to, hire others."

"What about the upper-level club?"

His eyes narrowed. "What about it?"

"Who is in charge of that one?" I hoped my question sounded as innocent as I wanted it to.

He mentioned twice that I was only in charge of the lower club, and the second time was enough to pique my curiosity.

"It has different management."

His tone did not invite any more questions on the subject, so I didn't ask anymore.

I blinked a little, glancing around the space that was to be my office and then back down at the file in my hands. He stood from the desk, checking an expensive looking watch on his wrist.

"I've got a call in an hour. Then a meeting in the lounge tonight at 11. Ask Lane to keep the usual table open for me. She knows which one." His words were brusque, all back to business. I nodded and he brushed past me toward the door trailing the smell of tobacco and sage behind him.

He turned before heading back down the hallway.

"Any questions, Miss Night?"

So formal.

"Not at the moment," I said, "thank you, Mr.

Russo."

For a moment, a sort of heavy look fell over his eyes. So quick, I thought I might have imagined it.

"Well then," his deep voice murmured,

"welcome to Elysium."