Chapter 5 Identity Verification

• RICO'S p.o.v
• I lit my cigarette, puffing fast and hard. I was sitting in the strip club with Marco, not really interested in being here tonight, but my mind was too messed up to refuse the distraction. When Marco suggested coming to our club, which we co-own, I jumped at the offer.
• Now, here we were, lounging in the VIP area. Marco already had a girl on him, grinding like her life depended on it. I knew he would soon excuse himself for a quick fuck in the nearby restroom. He had offered to send someone my way too, but I declined, choosing to watch instead.
• I don’t mess with women unless necessary. They are not a constant part of my life. I can’t brag about having a low body count, but I can say I don’t chase after every skirt in sight. Unlike Marco.
• I watched a stripper roll over the pole, sliding down slowly, shaking her ass in that practiced, hypnotic way. I took another drag from my cigarette, the smoke rushing out of me like steam.
• The strippers in our club are handpicked either by Marco or me. We make sure we bring in what the men like, and by the way the guys out there were drooling over this one, we nailed it. We’re short on strippers lately, already sent out a notice for hiring. We protect our girls from the hungry wolves in the crowd. Consent is always required before a man touches them.
• I sat there suddenly bored at the fact that no one was giving me the right distraction I had come here for, even though I was at fault too, shooing every lady that comes around with a glare, I have mastered the act of being in a club like this and unbothered, not having any erection, just watching to see where it goes.
• Just then, the man I'd been waiting for slipped past the guards surrounding me. They nodded, silently asking for my permission.
• “Boss, the job’s done. Clean,” Vincento said, his voice a quiet murmur.
• I smirked, my eyes narrowing. Valentino had sent men after me to finish the job his coward self couldn't, but now they were the ones lying in a ditch somewhere. Vincento pulled out his phone, showing me the picture of bodies piled up like trash.
• For some sick reason,that seems to restore the joy and excitement, the club wasn't giving me.
• I patted his back. “I knew I could count on you.”
• “I’m not done, boss,” he said, handing me a file. “Here’s the info you asked for.”
• “You may go. I’ll send my appreciation soon.” My voice turned cold as I focused on the file, the most important task I had given him. Marco was already in the restroom with the girl, leaving me alone in the dimly lit VIP section.
• I stared at the file, unsure whether to open it or toss it aside. What am I doing? Why am I so involved in this?
• That girl River Martinez was a temptation I didn’t need. Her innocent doe eyes were a sharp contrast to my icy blue ones. That innocence intrigued me. The way she had foolishly pointed a gun at herself weeks ago instead of at her enemies... the way she bit her lip when she was holding back a retort.
• That girl seems to be a temptation I have to avoid, her innocent looking doe eyes, a sharp contrast to the icy blue one I have. Her innocence is what keeps me intrigued.
• Her curves. That ass. It drove me insane. But she wasn’t like the women I normally went for; she lived in jeans, hoodies. She wasn’t looking to impress anyone, least of all me. Women in my life have a simple role: they please me, they get to brag about fucking Rico Swavey.
• But River... I had her investigated, and the results lay in front of me. I flicked the cigarette, exhaling smoke as I leaned forward, fingers twitching as I opened the file. Basic shit address, occupation. The restaurant I co-own with Gold. I have many side businesses, mainly to cover the tracks of my other shitty businesses.My Mafia is one of the biggest and powerful and we all know what happens in the Mafia. Owning drug warehouses and many more that isn't known to the common man.
• Made sense. She would not be found dead in a strip club like this, that's if she even knows what a strip club is.
• I took in a deep drag, letting the smoke fill my lungs, swirling around me. My gaze locked back on the file, drawing me in like a black hole.
• My mind is debating if I should go on with checking about her, scared I will get locked in with her, scared she would be like a drug I get addicted to.
• My thoughts flashed back to the night I went to return her sheets, how she tasted in my mouth. I shook my head to rid myself of those addicting thoughts.
• "River Martinez," I muttered, testing her name out loud. Innocent. Too innocent. But no one in my world is that naive.
• Which makes her more intriguing,I remember locking eyes with her in that party and how she removed her eyes immediately, shyly. I'm supposed to be irritated by her innocent self but instead it draws me in.
• I flipped through more pages, searching for the reason I couldn’t stop thinking about her.. Anything to make me stop thinking about her, anything to make me irritated by her presence.Women were a distraction, a pastime, nothing more. But this one... I knew I should leave her alone.
• Then I saw it.
• My hand froze as I glanced through the papers set before me, there is a suspicious piece of information I just saw.
• The information made my pulse quicken as I fixed my e
• yes on that particular sentence.
• Who is this girl really?