Ruthless King

“Cut the bullshit and tell me why you really wanted to talk to me.”

Santé eyed him for a long moment. “I’ve got a proposition for you.”

Santé seemed to be waiting for him to reply, but Regent stayed quiet.

He knew a thing or two about being patient.

“Some of the other clubs in town don’t treat their dancers all that well. I’ve heard stories.”

Regent forced himself to remain relaxed. “Which ones?” He couldn’t send his men to all of them. But sometimes, you just had to make an example of one to get the others to fall in line.

“I have them written down, I can send you the list. But I was thinking we could partner up. I don’t have the funds to invest in several clubs. But if I did, I could drive those other ones out of business.”

It was ambitious. And it could work if Santé could make the clubs he created more interesting, to draw customers to them.

However, he was talking about a large cash injection.

“You already know that I don’t get involved in selling skin.” Regent glanced up as Nyx stripped off her gown. Underneath, she had on a piece of black material with gold thread. It wrapped around her neck, then down over her breasts, through her legs, and back up again.

He had to force himself to look away. What was wrong with him?

“You could be a silent partner.”

“Look, I don’t dislike the idea. But I don’t know you so why would I become a silent partner? I don’t even know if you’ll just take my money and run.”

“I wouldn’t do that. I really want this to work.”

The guy was young and ambitious and Regent respected that.

“Have you got a business plan? An idea of what you’re going to do? What investment will you need? And what profit margin do you project?”

“Not yet. But I can get onto that.”

“Get it done. Show me. I’m not investing but I can introduce you to some . . . people.”

Victor stiffened next to him, obviously surprised by the offer. But he didn’t say anything.

Santé’s face lightened.

The woman on stage stripped off the top of her outfit, giving them all a brief glimpse of her full breasts before the stage went black.

Definitely a different act from the others. And surprisingly, she seemed to be popular.

“You need to think outside the box. There are plenty of strip clubs, what would make yours different? Maybe you need to think about more acts like hers.”

“Who? Nyx?” Santé asked.

“Yeah.”

Santé nodded. “All right. I’ll get everything together, then I’ll call you?”

“Okay.”

The next act came on stage. Jingles. What was her real name? Kimmy. The woman Patrick had supposedly been obsessed with. Regent wanted her to see him, so he stood and moved into the light.

“Thanks for coming,” Santé said, holding out his hand.

Regent shook it briefly. He saw Kimmy look over at them and falter briefly.