Ruthless King (New Orleans Malones #4)

Chapter 11

11

R egent sat in a back booth in the dark. Victor sat beside him, while Jose was somewhere behind him.

“Why are we here again?” Victor asked. “We don’t need this guy.”

“I want to check in on him. It’s good for him to see me in person. Keep him in check and get a feel for him now that he’s settled in.”

Plus, he was curious about what he wanted.

“And you want to see that dancer, right? What was her name? Jingles? We gave her some contact details last time.”

“Yes, but perhaps she needs to see me to remember who is in charge around here. Just in case.” He had no reason to speak to her. But he wasn’t above a bit of intimidation.

Victor remained silent.

The woman on the stage finished her dance and strolled alluringly off stage. She didn’t seem concerned about the fact that she was topless in front of a bunch of leering men . . . and women.

“Ahh, gentleman, sorry to keep you waiting.” Santé Santiago walked up to them.

He slid into the booth across from Regent, seemingly unconcerned about having his back to the room.

Then the music grew louder again, this time with a slower, sultrier tune, just before a woman with long, white hair stepped onto the stage.

Obviously, she wore a wig, but it worked with the dark mask she wore that covered the top half of her face.

She was wearing a black gown that covered most of her body. It had wide splits up the sides and a belt that cinched into her waist.

Odd outfit for this place.

“Ahh, there’s Nyx. I wanted you guys to see her. Isn’t she gorgeous?” Santé said, half-turning to watch the woman dance.

And she could dance. She moved around the pole, dancing like there was no one else in the room.

There was something weirdly hypnotic about the way she moved. Something that drew him in.

Until Victor elbowed him and he realized he’d been staring for too long. The last thing he wanted was to show interest in any of Santiago’s girls.

“I thought you might like her.” The other man looked smug. “She doesn’t usually do private dances, but for you, she might make an exception.”

“You’d force her to private dance for us?” Victor snapped, tensing beside Regent.

It was Regent’s turn to elbow his brother. He needed to stay calm.

“I don’t force these girls to do anything,” Santé said.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Regent said.

Santé zeroed in on him. “I know that you refuse to touch the flesh trade.”

“That’s right. Although that doesn’t mean I’m not watching you. You wanted to talk to me about mixology? You know that drug had nothing to do with me, right?”

“But you run this town. You’re in charge. And the girls got very sick from a bad batch of it.” There was no anger in Santé’s voice. As Regent thought, that was a ruse.

“Cut the bullshit and tell me why you really wanted to talk to me.”

Santé eyed him for a long moment. “I’ve got a proposition for you.”

Santé seemed to be waiting for him to reply, but Regent stayed quiet.

He knew a thing or two about being patient.

“Some of the other clubs in town don’t treat their dancers all that well. I’ve heard stories.”

Regent forced himself to remain relaxed. “Which ones?” He couldn’t send his men to all of them. But sometimes, you just had to make an example of one to get the others to fall in line.

“I have them written down, I can send you the list. But I was thinking we could partner up. I don’t have the funds to invest in several clubs. But if I did, I could drive those other ones out of business.”

It was ambitious. And it could work if Santé could make the clubs he created more interesting, to draw customers to them.

However, he was talking about a large cash injection.

“You already know that I don’t get involved in selling skin.” Regent glanced up as Nyx stripped off her gown. Underneath, she had on a piece of black material with gold thread. It wrapped around her neck, then down over her breasts, through her legs, and back up again.

He had to force himself to look away. What was wrong with him?

“You could be a silent partner.”

“Look, I don’t dislike the idea. But I don’t know you so why would I become a silent partner? I don’t even know if you’ll just take my money and run.”

“I wouldn’t do that. I really want this to work.”

The guy was young and ambitious and Regent respected that.

“Have you got a business plan? An idea of what you’re going to do? What investment will you need? And what profit margin do you project?”

“Not yet. But I can get onto that.”

“Get it done. Show me. I’m not investing but I can introduce you to some . . . people.”

Victor stiffened next to him, obviously surprised by the offer. But he didn’t say anything.

Santé’s face lightened.

The woman on stage stripped off the top of her outfit, giving them all a brief glimpse of her full breasts before the stage went black.

Definitely a different act from the others. And surprisingly, she seemed to be popular.

“You need to think outside the box. There are plenty of strip clubs, what would make yours different? Maybe you need to think about more acts like hers.”

“Who? Nyx?” Santé asked.

“Yeah.”

Santé nodded. “All right. I’ll get everything together, then I’ll call you?”

“Okay.”

The next act came on stage. Jingles. What was her real name? Kimmy. The woman Patrick had supposedly been obsessed with. Regent wanted her to see him, so he stood and moved into the light.

“Thanks for coming,” Santé said, holding out his hand.

Regent shook it briefly. He saw Kimmy look over at them and falter briefly.

Good.

Victor waited until they were out of the club and in the car with the divide between the front and back up to speak.

“You’re not seriously going to help back him?”

“I won’t be. But I know some backers who might be interested.”

“The last thing we need is more strip clubs.”

“We don’t need unregulated clubs, but they’re always going to exist. If you push them underground, it means the people working in them have less protection.”

“I fucking hate it,” Victor muttered. “And I don’t think I trust him. Santé.”

“You don’t trust anyone who isn’t family.”

Victor grunted. “True. So you met with Jilly last night?”

“Hmm.”

“She tell you about her boss?” Victor asked.

“Not yet.”

“What? You mean she didn’t immediately spill all of her issues so you could solve them? That must be frustrating for you, to want something you can’t get. Because in order to get her to talk, you’d have to tell her that you’ve been spying on her, right?”

Regent shot him a look. “I’ll get her to tell me. It’s just taking slightly longer than intended. I’m having dinner with her Sunday night. She’ll tell me then.”

He couldn’t remember when he’d looked forward to something as much as he was to having dinner with Jilly.