Total pages in book: 15
Estimated words: 13796 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 69(@200wpm)___ 55(@250wpm)___ 46(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 13796 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 69(@200wpm)___ 55(@250wpm)___ 46(@300wpm)
“What is going on?” asks as I head down the main road leading to Silver Spoon Falls.
“Someone stole from me.” I lift her soft hand in mine and place a kiss across her knuckles. “And I need to deal with it.”
“Oh.” Ariel sits back and bites her luscious bottom lip. “Maybe I could help?” I glance over at her, wondering what she means. “My degree is actually in forensic accounting.” She shocks the fuck out of me. My little siren is not only gorgeous, but she’s also insanely intelligent.
“I’d love your help.” I’m one lucky son-of-a-bitch, and I plan to buy stock in the Silver Spoon Falls water. “But this asshole didn’t even try to hide the evidence of their crime.”
“That doesn’t seem too smart.” Ariel doesn’t appear to be turned off by my world.
We walk through the nearly empty bar, and my hackles raise as I notice several men eyeing my girl. I glare at each of the assholes, warning them to look away or suffer the consequences.
“This is very nice.” Ariel smiles at me as I lead her into my office.
“Not what you expected?” I know most people envision strip clubs as sleazy low-class establishments, but we work hard to keep things classy. Our large staff works around the clock to keep the riffraff out and the wealthy paying customers in.
“Not really.” Ariel shrugs. “Actually, I’m not sure what I expected. I’ve only ever seen these kinds of places on television.” I’m not shocked by her revelation. I could sense her innocence from a mile away. I’d bet every cent in my bank account that she’s never been touched, which is a good thing. I’m not sure I could deal with knowing another man had dared to touch my siren. I should feel bad for my plans to corrupt Ariel, but I’m not. I’m looking forward to making her mine forever.
There’s a loud knock on my office door before Dimitri and Rick come strolling in. I barely resist the urge to punch my bar manager in the face when I see the fucker’s eyes fill with heat as he stares at my girl. If he doesn’t stop devouring her with his eyes, I’m going to rip them out of his head and shove them down his throat.
“Stop staring at her, or I’ll make sure it’s the last thing you ever do.”
Ariel gasps and spins around to glare at me, but I ignore my girl’s indignation and glare at both Dimitri and Rick.
“You can have a pissing contest after we figure out who stabbed us in the back” Dimitri breaks first. It’s personal to us when someone steals from the organization. We go out of our way to treat our employees like family members, and family doesn’t steal from family.
“There isn’t going to be a contest. Ariel is fucking mine.” I lay down the law and take my girl’s hand. “Have a seat, siren.” I kiss her soft knuckles before helping her sit on the black leather sofa. My little siren instinctively sits back and watches silently while I turn to discuss the situation with Dimitri and Rick.
“Now, what the fuck did you find out?” I glare at Rick, still peeved he dared to treat my girl like eye candy. Once we figure out this fucked up situation with the missing money, I plan to make it clear to every man in town that Ariel belongs to me, and I protect what’s mine no matter what.
“We have seven thousand, three hundred and seven dollars missing from this weekend’s receipts.”
I whistle under my breath at the large figure. That’s a whole lot of our money unaccounted for. It takes a truly insane motherfucker to steal from Dante Arakas’ organization.
“What did you find on the cameras?” I rub the back of my neck as a headache rushes up my spine. My drive to prove myself worthy of Dante’s confidence in my leadership abilities wars with the overwhelming need to win my girl’s heart.
“Not a goddamn thing.” Rick shakes his head. “Literally.”
I frown, waiting for him to explain but Dimitri cuts in, “The security videos are blank. Someone called the security company Saturday night and had them turn off the recording.” Dimitri’s dark scowl tells me he’s just as pissed as I am. We often call to have the videos paused when we have to take care of family matters, but the company knows better than to do it for just anybody.
“Did our internal backup cameras catch anything?” I ask as Dimitri walks over to the sidebar and pours himself a drink.
“We have to pull the footage and see.” After downing it, he sets the empty glass down. “I have Hacker checking the backup system now. I want to find out who was stupid enough to pull a stunt like this.” I’d lay money on it being a cartel associate, but I have no idea how one of those dumb assholes could pull something like this off. They’d need a very well-connected insider.