The Carrero Contract - Selling Your Soul (Mafia Romance)

Chapter 19

I stand admiring the finished bar and lounge area from my viewpoint on the stairs with a huge surge of pride swelling inside of me, walking to the deep sunken area and turn in a full circle taking in all the newly designed and staged areas around me. The whole club looks amazing and the black and gold palette with greys and subtle whites make it not only luxurious and nightclub feely but there’s a hint of sexy in all the fixtures and fittings. Low ceilings, soft lighting and plush upholstery.

This refurb has come in at over a million in costs from what I have been able to count and the whole place is dazzling and sensual.

Exactly the kind of club I would have put together if it was mine and I simply adore it. It screams of class yet has a sinister edge that is completely sexy—weirdly the same way I would describe Alexi.

A long granite topped black bar curving around a central pillared wall of bottles in a half arc to one side, overlooking the large couch edged room and little nooks of glamorous privacy. The hall now leads to fifteen little themed boudoirs—one for every taste, and that has been repeated upstairs with matching rooms and ten more.

We have two community areas, the second floor is our private V.I.P. area with its own bar and I literally cannot love my surroundings any more than I do.

I was all about the fine details and little touches while Alexi was focused on the bigger picture and the whole feel of what he wanted. We came together and dare I say it, made a great little design team. One thing about Carrero is that we have similar tastes in decor and it is one area we never argued at all. I even love his bachelor pad upstairs and the progress meetings we had were almost enjoyable. We can be a good duo when we have a similar goal to focus on; when we stop bickering to just work.

Alexi has built himself a very upper-class whore house and already he has members queuing up at the doors to sample the Carrero hospitality. He has located a paid dating agency going into liquidation, and he’s slowly procuring the escorts on their books onto his own. Being selective and picking them based

on kink and class. He knows what he wants, and he has swooped in and taken control of all aspects of that area, of which I am thankful.

I spent enough of my life elbow deep in sordid, and it’s nice to hand it over to someone more capable of taking it in his stride.

‘‘Club Carrero.’’ My nickname for this little endeavour that he finally stuck with, is looking completely divine. I have goosebumps for our opening tonight, and already the staff are bustling round stocking the bar and ice coolers, polishing glasses and making everything ready for show time.

I’m just admiring all our hard work and dedication with one last scrutinising walkthrough. The old bar staff have all been fired, they were incompetent anyway and now we have hired cocktail skilled bartenders and servers. Uniforms are unusually modest, considering the aim of this place. The non- sexual staff are all in black tie and waistcoats—trousers for the men and knee-length skirts for the women and a ‘’hands off’’ policy on anyone that isn’t contracted to give out favours.

We have distinct differences in the requirements of our staff. Just the way Alexi wanted it.

Product will be distributed by Alexi’s men; a perk of being a member and all cash paid via membership, so it’s an open bar with all kinks on the house. You pay to be a part of it and everything else is free. He’s charging a ton and more for his powerful associates to get their nose in the door, and with twenty- five members a night only list, it can be controlled. They must book a month in advance for the nights they want and his list is already into the hundreds. He is making them pay through the nose for both the pleasure of what he offers and the chance to rub shoulders with people they might not normally come across any other way.

Men like him love to play, but they always like to have an angle and make connections that serve them well. He has it all tied up in the perfect package under one roof. Men doing what makes them happy—

kicking back with other men while a flow of booze and cocaine keeps them perked and relaxed and women suck and fuck them to their heart's content. Raw and primal. Alexi knows what works.

The waiting list is piling up from his contacts but his idea of one member for each room means no one will ever have to wait to get served. Each room is tailored to a variety of specs and tastes and women or men chosen accordingly. A member is awarded a card when they arrive, which gives access to the themed room of their choosing. That means every night, twenty-five rooms are suited to twenty-five guests and it keeps everyone happy.

It’s a brain ache planning out the guest lists to never overlap what they desire, a bit like pre-booking a table at a restaurant that serves a specific diet. This club is where business and crime meet; everything looks and feels above board. Proper employee contracts, and measures to keep things safe and regulated. Despite the fact he sells sex and drugs under this roof!

He doesn’t care how sordid a request a member has if his woman or man is consensual and safe words are used without complaint. Every client has a non-disclosure clause in their sign up and the staff all have them too; nothing can go outside of these walls unless Alexi has a need for it too and getting in is like breaking into a fortress, what with the new triple entry system and lines of black suited men wandering around all night. They’re all armed, easy to spot and terrifyingly huge with wireless headphones and mics on full show.

Carrero’s infamous ‘Men in black’.

‘‘You must be Camilla?’’ A voice much like Alexi’s snaps me out of my obsessive detail checking and I turn in surprise at a tall dark stranger that could almost be him, standing in front of me suddenly. Looming over me in a very spooky moment of ‘‘I must be seeing things.’’

I do a double take, inhaling sharply and mighty confused with the doppelganger that is most definitely NOT Alexi.

‘’Yes … How did you …?’’ I am completely gawping at the insanity that someone could look that much like another person. It’s freaky and knocking me all sorts of weird.

‘’Get in here? Perks of being Lex’s twin. He mentioned he had a very sexy redhead running things down here. I’m Gino.’’ He extends a hand and it’s hard not to see this muscular giant is his brother, they are almost completely identical in looks, minus the eyes. This one has blue and it makes a huge difference to the whole package. Somehow adding some life and colour to his whole face and softening it remarkably. I take his hand delicately and give it a little shake, still trying not to stare so obviously but it’s uncanny. I have never met twins before, never met people who are literally from the same mould in so many ways. He stands, looks like, sounds like and is built as beautifully, as Alexi. Although, I can still tell them apart, even without the eye colour.

‘’Pleasures all mine.’’ I smile sexily, and he breaks into a very non-Alexi grin. It’s strange to see on a familiar face that never tends to smile like this. Odd.

I have to blink a few times to adjust to the strangeness.

‘‘He said you brought a touch of royalty to his palace, I can see what he meant now. The accent really is the cherry on top of the whole package isn’t it.’’ He’s very frank and forward I’ll give him that and far more animated and relaxed in manner compared to Alexi. If Alexi had a personality transplant maybe, then he could be him.

I am a little touched that Alexi said something positive about me though. Stupid butterflies and teen girl reactions and I shake them away as complete nonsense. Ignoring the warmth spreading through my abdomen.

‘‘Which one of you is the eldest?’’ Twins have always intrigued me and these two are very alluring to me.

‘‘Me, although he acts like he should have been. Mr Boss and all that, I was born fifteen minutes earlier and I never let him forget it.’’ He grins again and this time with an air of cheeky and likeability, a hint that Gino is not a part of this world in the way Alexi is. A personality like his wouldn’t be an advantage, he’s too friendly, too smiley; unless like his brother he uses charm to disarm and is a complete psycho underneath. The masks they wear and all that.

He doesn’t give me the same sense of unease as his brother though and normally my gut instincts are honed to the danger factor. That sinister edge is completely missing.

‘‘He’s around somewhere, probably his office upstairs. I saw him earlier; would you like me to take you there?’’ I answer politely, pointedly and nod towards the internal door to the hall. Not really angling to stand and chatter to the look-alike when I have actual things to be doing.

‘‘Nahhh I know the way, I helped him choose this place when he was scouting for a back-alley venue for his future man pad. I helped him sort out the apartment upstairs when he first started using it.’’

‘‘I see … As in D.I.Y.?’’ I find that unusual for someone with Alexi’s pay packet. Surely he would just hire someone in.

‘’No. I run a security firm, I installed all his high tech upstairs and you know … hand scanners and all the cameras in both the apartment and the other floors.’’

My face falls, wave of unearthly chill coming over me with that little detail. Cameras in the apartment?

Since fucking when?

‘’I see.’’ I falter trying not to give my surprise away and mentally start cursing Carrero out. Stomach flipping over in knots as it dawns on me, what he just said.

He’s been filming the apartment this whole goddamn time, almost five months of me living here under his roof and never once told me. It feels like a complete violation.

Complete fucking arsehole!