AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shoot up, back into a seated position. Bending my knee, I hike my leg onto the bed as I turn to face Izzy, who is mirroring my position. “Please continue.”
“Now let me preface this with saying my brother is going to befuriousif he finds out.”
Waving her off with my hand, I encourage her to continue. “If anything, that just makes me want to see this plan of yours out even more.”
She chuckles as she shakes her head. “You’re lucky my brother has a soft spot for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, if anyone’s going to be able to pull this off andnotget killed by my brother in the process, it’s you. He has a soft spot for me because I’m his little sister, but you. . . you, he has a soft spot for a whole other reason. And it’ll be the only protection you have in this situation.”
A whole other reason.
I want to inquire more, but I’m still too frustrated with Matteo to care right now. Ignoring what she said, I shake my hand, gesturing for her to continue. “Okay, so what’s this plan of yours?”
“We’re going to the strip club.”
“Um, okay. . . how, though? We have a guard watching us. There’s no way he’s going to just let us leave to go to a strip club.”
“Oh, gosh no. But I do know that we can easily evade him, and by the time he realizes we’re not in the penthouse anymore, we’ll already be long gone and he won’t have any idea where we’ve disappeared to.”
Pulling out her phone, Izzy starts typing something. “I know just the person who can help. I’ll get us to the strip club,” she says, pointing to herself before pointing to me. “You take it from there.” She wiggles her brows at me, and the gleam in her eye tells me we’re going to be in for an interesting night.
“I take it from there,” I repeat, nodding to myself while I think about what that means exactly.
Izzy’s phone dings, catching my attention. A smile breaks out on her face. “Perfect! Liana’s going to pick us up out front. We just need to get there, and we’ll be good. Do you have a plan?”
Not really, but here goes nothing.
“Bear with me, okay? This plan could easily change once we get there, but I’m assuming Mauricio isn’t going to be at the strip club by himself, so while Matteo’s busy with Mauricioand the stripper”—which I don’t love—“what if I talk up whoever he’s with? This could be a good plan B in case Matteo’s stripper doesn’t pull through for him. I’m sure whoever’s with Mauricio will knowsomething.”
Izzy slowly nods as she purses her lips and thinks about my plan. It might not be the greatest, but it’s the best I can come up with. I want to be useful, and if we’re going to be this close to these guys, we need to get some kind of information out of them. The more hands on this, the better.
Reverting to her phone, Izzy quickly types something on it again.
She holds her phone out to me so I can see the screen. She has a website pulled up for The Ruby Lounge, displaying a flier for an amateur night for dancers. I look at her, confused. How did she know?—
“I overheard Enzo and Matteo after you stormed out of the kitchen, and they mentioned The Ruby Lounge, so I’m sure that’s where they’re going tonight. And you’re in luck. Looks like The Ruby Lounge has their annual amateur night tonight.”
I cock a brow at her. “Okay?”
Dropping her phone back into her lap, she continues. “So this is how we’re going to get in. You and I are participating in amateur night, and we’re going to blow the socks off whatever men Mauricio has with him.That’show we’re going to get them to talk.”
Oh yeah, Matteo is going tohatethis plan if he catches us. A sinister grin takes over my face. Pissing him off the way he’s pissed me off only makes me want to follow through with this plan even more.
“I’m in,” I say. “But I don’t have anything to wear. I don’t even know whattowear to a strip club’s amateur night.”
“Already on it,” she says, typing on her phone. “Also, don’tworry about Matteo catching us. Liana has some wigs, so I’ll ask her to bring a couple for us. After I do your makeup, even if he does see you, he won’t recognize you.”
I hope she’s right, because the last thing I need is to have him barging in, destroying any chance I have of getting information about my mom.
29
MATTEO
Enzo and I pull up to The Ruby Lounge, and I’ve already spotted Mauricio’s silver Bentley in the parking lot. Looks like my source was correct.
My strip club contact, Frankie, lets us in through a side entrance. The club is owned by Mancini. With Lux and I married, it won’t be out of the ordinary for me to be here, but I’m not taking a chance on spooking Mauricio. If he knows about Lux’s mother’s kidnapping and sees me here, he’ll be on guard and even the stripper won’t be able to distract him enough to get anything out of him.
