A cheer went around and Lilah squealed out, “I’m so excited!”

Birdie took each costume out of the box one-by-one, handing them to the girls who they fit. Each girl received a different color corset-bodied one-piece with thigh-high fishnets, and one additional costume. They weren’t all the same. Some girls got a teeny-weeny sailor outfit, while some were made to be bunnies. Others were French maids, policewomen, cats, and we even had a Red Riding Hood.

The way the girls chattered excitedly had me biting my lip to squelch down my smile. I was happy that they were happy.

When Lilah held up a pastie and asked, “How do we put these on?” Birdie assisted, telling Lilah to take off her t-shirt and bra. Lilah grinned as she undressed, and the other ladies watched carefully as Birdie showed them how to apply the pasties by using the glue on Lilah’s bare breasts.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I smiled down at the display.

“Hey, I haven’t heard from you in a few days,” I answered happily.

Alessio sounded a little shy. “Yeah, well, I’m taking enough of your time. I didn’t want to bug you.”

I grinned. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

He made a light grunt. “Not sure if I should’ve called or not, but after I spoke to Dad, he told me I should.” He was hesitating.

My smile dropped. “What is it?”

Alessio sighed. “Just had two of your girls down here asking for work.”

I closed my eyes. “Let me guess: Sofia and Martina, right?”

“Yep.” He went on. “We told them we didn’t need them.”

My brow furrowed. “Why would you do that? You had people approaching the club to steal our workers away from us.”

He clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Yeah, well, shit’s changed. We’re not doing that no more.” He stated, “Tell your girls they’re not welcome here, all right?”

A small smile graced my face. “Is this your way of telling me that you’re not going to fuck with my work?”

He stayed silent a moment before saying, “That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

“Thank you, Alessio,” I responded quietly.

His reply was just as quiet. “You’re welcome, Mina.”

I immediately made my way to the bar and approached Sasha. “So I just had an interesting phone call from my brother.”

Sasha’s brows rose. “Why the fuck you telling me?”

I bunched my nose at him, and raising my hand, I poked him in the chest. “You know, you could be nicer to me. I have important information to tell you.”

He sighed. “Whatever. Shoot.”

“Alessio told me that Sofia and Martina were at Aphrodite’s Kiss just now applying for work.”

Sasha’s jaw ticked, but as always, he spoke evenly, “Fucking bitches. They’re fired. Soon as they come in, tell ‘em to come see me in my office.”

I nodded, perfectly happy with both girls’ dismissal. “You know we can’t work with just nine girls. We’re going to need at least three more at a full-time level.”

He glowered at me. “How the fuck do you know that?”

I bit my tongue, but I really wanted to tell him to eat a thousand dicks. “I’ve done my research; that’s how.” I huffed out a breath. “Listen, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without Birdie. I think you should put her in charge of hiring the next few girls.”

For once, he didn’t disagree, looking over at the woman. “She surprised me with all this shit. I didn’t realize she was management material. I could’ve used her a few months back.” He nodded. “I’ll talk to her.”

Thank the Lord for small victories!

While I was on a roll, I decided to push my luck. “You wouldn’t happen to have a professional camera lying around, would you?”

His drab stare told me that no, he did not. His brows furrowed. “What do you need a camera for?”

“I always had a thing for photography and…” my face flushed… “and I was good at it. I thought if you had a camera, I could take photos of the girls for the flyers. I have something in mind, but I just need the tools to do it.” I waved my hands in dismissal of the idea. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll make do without it.” As I walked away, I turned and started to walk backwards while I told Sasha a genuine, “Hey, thanks.”

He frowned. “For what?”

My shrugged. “For giving my idea a chance. It means a lot. So thanks.”

I went back to the girls and listened as they projected their ideas for dance routines and solo performances. We worked out that each act would need to be between three and five minutes a piece, with two intervals during the night. I was impressed with these women. They were taking it all in stride and contributing. I was proud of them.

An hour later, a delivery came to the club and it was addressed to me. I signed for it with confusion written all over my face. When I opened the package, I gasped.

Inside was a brand new Pentax professional digital camera. My lips started to quiver. I knew who had done this.

From behind me came a stern, “You break it, you bought it.”

I gently put the box down on the bar before turning and asking, “Why? Why would you give this to me?”

Sasha looked down to the ground, clearly uncomfortable. His response was curt. “I didn’t buy it for you.” His voice softened. “I did it for the club. I bought it for the club.”

A small smile tugged at my lips, and soon I was beaming. “I’m going to take the best photos you’ve ever seen.”

His brows rose at the conviction in my tone. “The best photos I’ve ever seen?”

I grinned. “The best goddamn photos you’ve ever seen.”

He smiled then, but it was small. He sighed to himself. “For your sake, I hope you’re right.”

Sasha Leokov didn’t know who he was working with.

He didn’t know who Mina Harris really was. I needed to show him, and I fully intended to do just that.

I would win him over.

I would.

Lev called just before five to tell me that he wouldn’t be coming to the club as planned. He got caught up in those numbers of his and totally lost track of time. Luckily for him, I’d had a good day; otherwise, I might not have been so accepting.

After seeing some of the photos I intended to put on the flyers, Sasha was impressed. He didn’t show it, but I knew he was. Why else would he have offered to give me a ride back home?

Sasha and I were now your regular BFFs. Well, not really. But he would succumb to my charm. Eventually. I was sure of it.

Sasha drove up into Lev’s drive long enough to mutter, “Fuck me.”

I lifted my head to see what had brought out the curse to find my brother’s car already in the drive. And he was sitting inside.

“Thanks for the ride. I’ll see you later,” I muttered distractedly before stepping out, walking over to Alessio’s car and knocking lightly on the window.

He was scowling down at a piece of paper in his lap, but as soon as he lifted his head to look at me, his face gentled. I opened the passenger door and sat inside, smiling, leaning over the seat to give him a light squeeze. “Hey. I wasn’t expecting you. What are you doing here? And what are you doing outside?”

His arm came around me to hug me back, and he uttered, “I gotta talk to you. Alone.”

Crap.

I pulled back. “That sounds serious.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. It might be nothing, but,” he passed me the piece of paper, “here, look for yourself.”

My fingers worked quickly to unfold the paper. When I read what was on it, my chest squeezed. “You found them,” I whispered. “You found the Petersons. Already?” I smiled and chuckled. “You do work fast.”

“Mina, that’s the thing,” he started cautiously. “How long ago did you ask Lev to find them?”

How long? I thought back. “About six weeks ago. Why?”

He cursed, running a hand down his face. “I don’t want to cause no trouble, you hear, but I think you need to know that someone contacted the Petersons a few weeks back, asking all sorts of questions about you.” I frowned. That couldn’t be right. He added quietly, “And I think it was Lev.”