Page 52 of Marry Me Not
“Yeah,” Rom said. “Which is why I have a security team. I also have the head of security in the room next door monitoring everything happening in my club.”
“He’s one guy with one pair of eyes,” I said. “He’s probably busy watching some drunken idiots start a fight. Who knows how much attention he’s actually paying to the VIP area?”
Alessio rubbed his thumb against his temple. “And the four bodyguards Messero sent with them are doing what exactly? Providing ambiance?”
I crossed my arms. “I don’t know those guys. Who the fuck knows if they’re any good.”
Rom linked his hands behind his head. “Right. Messero definitely sent his precious wife, his sister, and her closest friends here under the protection of four useless pricks. Makes sense. Doesn’t it, Les?”
“Look, I’m tired. It’s almost three in the morning,” Alessio said with a yawn. “Are we having this meeting, or are we done? Because if we’re done, I’d like to go home and sleep.”
“We’re having the meeting,” I snapped. “What else?”
Rom rubbed his chin. “Lisa has all but disappeared off the face of the earth. If this biker guy doesn’t lead anywhere... It’s not looking good. We haven’t gotten any other leads on the Santoros.”
“What about Morales?” I asked. “He was taking money from them. He has to know something.”
“He’s in police custody right now,” Rom said, “which makes him somewhat inaccessible.”
Fabiana was still staring at that slip of paper, biting her bottom lip as if weighing her options. If she was thinking this hard in her current state, whatever was written on the card was probably going to make me homicidal.
Rom sighed. “Here we go again.”
I grabbed the remote and hit the zoom button, trying to make out the words on the paper. “I thought you said your equipment’s top of the line.” Top of the line my ass. The zoom either got stuck or the resolution went to shit. I couldn’t see a goddamn thing when the image was this grainy.
“Yeah, top of the line five years ago,” Rom said. “Should I remind you who refused my last budget proposal to upgrade the security system?”
That had probably been me. “Send it again.”
I switched to a different camera and tried to zoom in from another angle.
“You see this, Les? It’s all about managing costs until he wants to stalk his fiancée in HD.”
Now the goddamn button on the remote was stuck. I jammed my thumb into it until it popped back up.
Zoom. Just a little more.
The image blew up into dark, useless static. I tossed the remote down. “This is absurd.”
“What’s absurd is you expecting any security system to show you what’s written on a tiny piece of paper inside a fucking nightclub.” Rom got up and headed for the bar cart.
“She’s drunk,” I said. “Thanks to your girlfriend, by the way.”
Les yawned. “I think if anyone’s to blame, it’s the purple-haired one. She seems to be instigating most of this. What’s her name again?”
“Here.” Rom tried to hand me a tumbler of whiskey. “Have a drink. Relax.”
I waved him off. “I don’t want it.”
Hold on. What the fuck was she doing now?
I leaned closer to the screen.
Was I imagining it, or was she taking a selfie?
And not just any selfie. She was leaning forward, making her lips all pouty, giving the camera a look that she had no goddamn business giving anyone.
A hot, ugly feeling twisted low in my gut. She was my fiancée. Was she so drunk she’d forgotten that?
