My uncle had to do a tantrum. Like the mature man he was, the first reaction Santino had when he found out that his beloved club became mine was throwing a glass cup in my face that Victor caught without problems.

"Permission to kick him out of the mansion, boss," Victor said, squeezing the cup in his hand. The tone he used was one I hadn't heard before, it was cold and made a shiver run through my body.

"That's not going to be necessary, Victor," my father answered, standing up. "My brother is going to leave on his own."

"I'm not going anywhere until you give me back my club." Santino looked at me as if I were the most despicable being on earth. "She has no right to manage it."

His words meant nothing to me, he was going to have to do much more than just give me his pathetic complaints to affect me.

"I'd say you were the one who lost the right to manage it after your abysmal failure," I said, grinning.

"As if you could do a better job." My uncle raised his hand for a second but lowered it again when Victor sent him a warning glare.

"You had your chance and you blew it," my father said. He walked over to Santino and put his hand on his shoulder. "Fiorella is the new manager of the club, you better get on with it. Now get out of my house and get your shit together before coming back. Next time you try to attack my daughter I won't stop Victor."

Santino's gaze shifted to Victor, it wasn't long before my uncle fell at the menacing presence of my new bodyguard.

Even he, the only brother of the Barone mafia boss, slunk away in fear of being caught by Victor. I was starting to see the positive side of having him by my side, even if he was completely annoying most of the time.

"Bye-bye, Mr. Barone," Victor called out as Santino walked through the door.

"Sorry about that," my father apologized, returning to his seat.

"It's not your fault." The words came out of my mouth automatically. "Though I would have appreciated you giving me a heads up. Anyways, forget about Santino, I'd rather hear the details. What do you expect me to do with the club?"

×××

Good news for me: Mrs. Heney, the previous manager of Foxy had taken over the remodeling of the place.

Bad news: she resigned from her position because she had problems with several clients, especially my dear uncle's friends.

It was probably another of Santino's pathetic strategies to get the club back.

Well, too bad for him that his games aren't going to work on me.

"Are you sure you want to do this so soon?" Victor asked me from the driver's seat. "You have almost zero information, I can have my people find out what you need to know by tomorrow."

I thought about it for a moment, looking at the club's entrance from the car window.

The Foxie was one of the Barone family's greatest prides. Thousands of influential people spent their nights gambling, enjoying the beauty of the dancers, and making business deals inside the giant building. The long line of people waiting to go through the red door was proof of the club's popularity.

Still, it couldn't compare to its golden age, those short years when my own father ran the club after my uncle ruined everything.

"I'm not going to hide behind your minions," I finally answered. "I need to see how they work with my own eyes."

"You're going to have to delegate at some point." Victor insisted, leaning over me. He looked into my eyes for a few long seconds before unbuckling my seatbelt. "You can't be here and take care of the distribution of the flare at the same time."

"Are you my advisor now?" I opened the car door, ignoring his glare. "Focus on doing your job instead of telling me what to do."

"Are you always this stubborn?" Victor got out of the car and ran to my side. He grabbed my arm to stop me from getting ahead of him. "I don't know how things worked out with your previous bodyguard but I want you where I can see you all the time. Am I clear?"

"I'm the boss, not you," I told him, pulling my arm free.

So many years working for my father and he hadn't learned his place?

Maybe it was my father's fault for making him believe he was someone special. Yeah, Victor could be an excellent weapon for our family but that didn't make him one of us.

Looks like I'm going to have to teach him some manners, I thought, approaching the club's entrance.

The security men nodded at me as I got closer, and I didn't even need to tell them my name for them to let me in. They didn't know me, though it was more than likely that my father had tipped them off about the manager change.

"I'd appreciate it if you'd stop causing me trouble," Victor said behind me, taking off his suit jacket to hand it to the employee in the lobby. He put his hand on my back. "Let me help you with your jacket, you don't want to have it up in the heat inside."

First he was disrespectful and then he was polite, Victor didn't know a middle ground.

"I can do it myself," I replied, pulling off my coat.

Under the red light of the lobby, Victor's angry sneer looked more menacing. Would I be weird if I said I found him enticing? At that moment I wouldn't have minded finding out what kind of storm was lurking inside him.

"Welcome to The Foxy. My name is Roxie, what can I do for you this fine evening?" A beautiful young blonde with waist-length hair interrupted us before Victor could attack.

"I'd love it if you could give me a tour," I answered, smiling at her. "I'm Fiorella Barone, by the way."

It was obvious from the way her blue eyes widened for a second that this wasn't the first time she'd heard my name.

"Of course." Roxie pushed up the neckline of her tight red dress. "We weren't expecting you tonight, I can take you to Jasper right away, he's in charge for today."

"That won't be necessary." I walked past her and pulled back the curtains that separated the lobby from the rest of the club. "I bet you can give us the tour without any problems."

Roxie followed me. "I don't... I don't know... I'll do my best."

"Don't stay behind, Victor," I said in an overly sweet tone.

The poor young woman next to me froze at the sound of my bodyguard's name. I could see the fear on her face clearly despite the dim lighting in the room.

Victor muttered something that I couldn't make out over the sound of the music and the loud voices of the customers. I let it go, knowing that it wasn't the right time to continue our silly argument.

Instead, my attention was drawn to the stage at the back of the room where a woman in a dress that left little to the imagination was mesmerizing the clients with her beautiful voice.

"We've got a full house tonight as you can see." Roxie led us past the round tables toward the bar. "Even upstairs and the VIP area is packed."

I recognized some important faces as we climbed the stairs, from politicians to celebrities, all of them having a great time. The deeper we went into the Foxy's the more I understood why my uncle was obsessed with taking back the club.

The Foxy was a gold mine and luckily all of its riches belonged to me. Not that Santino could complain, he had the casino under his command, if he knew how to use it he could also profit from it during our competition.

"How long have you been working here?" I asked Roxie.

She opened the door to my new office and turned on the light. "Five years. Why?"

"I'm surprised you know so much about the club and know almost everyone," I said, running my finger over the desk. I was going to need someone to clean up the office, everything was covered in dust. "Any important clients this week?"

Victor slammed the office door, the noise making Roxie jump and take a step away from him. Her small hands began to shake as they clutched the side of her dress.

Any normal person would have noticed the fear the poor woman was carrying and felt compassion for her.

But Victor was no ordinary person.

Without the slightest hint of tact, he stepped even closer to us with his hand against his gun. To make matters worse, his emotionless gaze followed Roxie's every move.

"Ignore him," I said, standing in front of Roxie to block Victor. "He looks dangerous but my little dog isn't going to attack you without my permission. Just answer my question and you can leave."

From behind Roxie Victor sent me a glare, he definitely didn't like my comment.

"I serve a lot of customers every day, I'm just a waitress but if they want I can keep them company while they drink. These past few days most of my time has been taken up by your uncle."

"Santino has been coming here? I thought he got into town yesterday," I asked.

"He's been visiting the club for the past two weeks, he seemed pretty sure he will be the new manager. I know because he always asks about me."

That rat is planning something.

"Thanks, Roxie." I gave her hands a squeeze. "I have a feeling we're going to get along. You can go now."

Within seconds Roxie disappeared. I kinda felt bad for her, it must be hard to have to give a tour to your new boss, who is also a member of the mob and is being followed by the most notorious assassin in the entire city. Considering the situation she did a great job.

"I like her." I leaned my body against the desk.

"Your dog? Really?" Victor asked me, letting his frustration out.

"Did I say something wrong?"

Victor's gaze didn't move an inch from my face as he closed the distance between us. There was something animalistic in his eyes as if he was giving in to his hunting instinct.

"I think you're forgetting who I am." Victor hooked my chin between his fingers and lifted my face. "You may be Salvatore's daughter but that doesn't give you the right to disrespect me. If you're smart, you should start being careful."

"Why would I be afraid of you? What are you going to do?" I took a step forward, pressing my chest against Victor.

"I could kill you right now if I wanted to," he said. To prove his point, Victor lowered his hand to my neck, applying pressure. "I'm warning you, disrespect me one more time and it will be the last time you speak."

He caressed my neck before letting go and suddenly his gaze returned to being emotionless. It all happened so fast that I didn't even manage to regulate my breathing before Victor left the office.

"Try it if you can," I shouted, wanting to have the last word.

I had no luck. My father gave me a new bodyguard but he was a thousand times more dangerous than my enemies.