"I prefer my turf."
"Oh. Well. Okay. So what's up?"
"I want to talk about a PR rep who worked for you."
"Worked for me? Oh. Her." Danny sneered. "Lena Fucking Cruz, huh?" He blew out a noisy breath. "You want my advice, Yuri? Stay the fuck away from her. She's trouble with a capital T."
"Really? I understood she was quite a hard worker and very capable at her profession."
Danny laughed. "Who told you that? Shit, Yuri! The only positive performance reviews Lena Cruz has ever gotten came from her blowjob skills."
Rage exploded within Yuri. He balled his hands into tight fists at his sides and barely managed to maintain control.
"If you're looking for a side piece, you can snatch her up cheap. She quit tonight. I have it on good authority that the firm is going to fire her in the morning. I wouldn’t let her run PR for any of your businesses, but she's got one hell of a mouth on her, if you know what I mean."
"I don't." Yuri fixed Danny with a furious glare. "In fact, I doubt very much that you know anything about her."
Danny held up his hands. "Hey, man, don't get so defensive. You think a girl like that got out of the projects with a full-ride scholarship without sucking a few dicks along the way?"
And just like that Yuri's control snapped.
With the stealth and swiftness of his military days, he threw out his arm and caught Danny across the throat. In an instant, he had the man pinned on the backseat. Eyes wild with fright, Danny spluttered and shoved at Yuri's arms but it was no use. He had the upper hand and he wasn’t ready to let go.
"Listen to me, you little shit. If I hear one whisper of such nasty things about my Lena from anyone, I'll know the source. Believe me, Danny. You don't want me to come back here." He shoved hard enough to make the bastard's eyes bug out of his head before releasing just enough pressure to allow the club owner to drag air into his oxygen-starved lungs. "Do you understand me?"
"Y-yes, Yu-Yuri." Danny stammered and coughed. "I'm sorry, man. I didn't know. I didn't know you were fucking her."
Yuri backhanded him. "Is that what you think this is about? That I'm jealous?" Disgusted, he slid off the man and let him sit up. "Lena isn't that kind of girl, but you wouldn't know that because all you see is where she came from and some stereotype of what girls like that are supposed to be. It must eat you up to know that she wouldn't give a prick like you a second glance."
Danny put his hand to his bloody nose and mouth. "You fucking Russian dick! I'm bleeding!"
"Be glad you're only bleeding and don't need a hospital." He grabbed Danny by the front of the shirt and jerked him forward for one last warning. "If you ever put your hands on a woman again, it will be the last time you have hands to use. Understood?"
Danny paled. "She pissed me off, man. Okay? But, look, I didn't mean to hurt her."
The man's justification for grabbing and bruising Lena made him ill. "That wasn’t what I asked."
"I understand. I'm sorry. I won't do it again."
"You know I'll find out if you do."
"I do. I do know."
Yuri let go of Danny. He sat back in his seat and fixed his mussed cuffs. "In the morning, you're going to call Lena's firm and tell them you amicably parted ways. You'll let them know that you had creative differences but you'd recommend her to anyone. And when someone calls you seeking a recommendation, you'll give her a glowing review—a review that she deserves."
"Yes, Yuri."
"Good. Now get the fuck out."
Danny didn’t need to be told twice. He bolted from the back seat and rushed to the rear entrance of his club. One of his bouncers took a menacing step toward the car but Derek and Jake stood should-to-shoulder and scared him away. When his bodyguards were safely in place, Yuri addressed Tony. "Take me to Faze."
By the time they'd arrived at Faze, his anger had nearly dissipated. Now he was ready to sniff out the saboteur among his staff. Even if it hadn't been Lena hurt by the subversion, he would have been just as upset by it. He'd seen enough of that underhanded, backstabbing bullshit during his early foray into the business world.
At Faze, it was nearing closing time. He found Araceli, the club's manager, and asked her for a private word in her office. The surprise and anger in her expression convinced him she'd had no hand in this.
"If I had to put money on anyone, it would Jeannie, the new go-go dancer we picked up last month. Her boyfriend, Trey, is one of the bouncers at Faze. She tried getting him a job here but Dimitri wouldn't hire him. He said the guy had a bad handshake."
Yuri's mouth curved with amusement. That sounded exactly like Dimitri. "She sounds like a good place to start but let's be perfectly honest, Araceli. A girl who dances in our cages and on our tables to keep the crowd pumped isn't the one who would benefit most from taking that VIP party."
"Agreed." Araceli sighed heavily. "It could have been one of the bartenders up there on the VIP floor or one of the waitresses. Hell it could have been all of them. I saw the bill those guys racked up. The tip is going to be a tidy cut for the servers and bartenders to share."
"Then we haul them all in here and sweat them." Yuri slipped out of his jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves. "I won't have this kind of subterfuge in my clubs. This is how stupid feuds begin between businesses. We nip this in the bud tonight."
Araceli's instinct proved true. Within four minutes of questioning by the tough-as-nails manager, Jeannie started to bawl like a baby and confessed the whole sordid mess. Trey had approached her about stealing the party to get back at Lena for cutting their side-deals with the hookers and drug dealers and underage kids. Jeannie had acted as the go-between with the bouncers at 716 and the VIP crew at Faze. The Faze team had turned down three major bookings for the VIP lounge to make sure they could accept the athletes bounced from 716.
Even though Yuri owned the club, he left the day-to-day operations in Araceli's capable hands. He knew what he wanted to do about the situation but he trusted her judgment. He wouldn't have hired her otherwise.
"They're gone," Araceli decided. "I'm keeping the two new waitresses because they're young and dumb and weren't brave enough to say no to this scheme but the others?" She drew a line across her neck. "I won't have my people acting like a bunch of high school kids."
"I support your decision, Araceli." He wasn't keen on keeping the two waitresses but her justification made it palatable. "I suppose it's a good thing we're closed Sunday and Monday nights."
"It won't be hard to fill the open spots."
Standing, Yuri grabbed his jacket and slung it over his shoulder. "Then I leave it in your hands."
"Are you sticking around Houston this week or are you jetting off again?"
"Sticking around," he said and headed for the door.
"I see." She said it as if she knew his secret. Maybe she did. Lena's appearance earlier and their disappearance together wouldn't have gone unnoticed by Araceli.