What We Do in the Night (Day to Night #1) - Stylo Fantome Page 0,28
your Moon Room downstairs. Specifically all the footage from midnight till fifteen minutes ago.”
That finally shut DelVecchio up. He shared a confused look with Serge for a moment.
“Why the fuck would you want that?” he asked.
“Because from midnight up to fifteen minutes ago, I was in the Moon Room.”
“Who gives a shit if you were in the ...” DelVecchio's voice dropped off as understanding dawned. Ari nodded his head.
“Valentine was in there, too.”
“Holy shit,” Del breathed. “You cracked her, you dumb, lucky, sonuvabitch. I never thought it would happen. Not to poor little Val.”
Ari didn't care for that sentiment, at all. He'd paid her well and treated her even better – there had been nothing “poor” about their experience together.
“As you said, she's a very special girl, and it was a very ... intense interaction. I'd like to keep it for myself, and myself alone. Show me where your security footage is stored.”
Down the hall there was a tiny room full of large servers and several monitors. A small guy wearing a headset sat in front of them, sipping at a large cup of coffee. Del looked concerned, but Ari kept his poker face on. He didn't particularly care if someone watched him having sex, but he figured Valentine would lose her shit if she found out, and he didn't want to deal with that.
“Hey, Pauly, you got eyes on the Moon Room?” Del asked. The security guy glanced at him.
“Nah, I only check it at the top of the hour, unless it's busy in there. Some dance party was hopping around in there a few minutes ago, but that's about it.”
“Good, good. Look, go get a refill. I gotta work something out.”
The guy excused himself, and once again, it was just Ari, DelVecchio, and the giant Serge.
Del expertly operated the security system, pulling up the back log screen and entering the times Ari had told him. Then they both watched a screen which showed the front door of the Moon Room. It was closed at midnight. At twelve-oh-three, it opened and Valentine stepped around it, holding onto the knob while Ari walked into the room behind her.
“Stop,” he ordered, and Del paused the footage. “Every camera, every angle, from twelve-oh-three to let's say one. Back it up on a USB, then delete the files.”
It took a while, the video was high quality so the files were large, but eventually Del had all eight angles of the room downloaded onto the tiny USB. Then while Ari watched, he deleted those same angles from the back log.
“Alright, a thousand bucks,” Del said, swiveling around in the chair. Ari handed over the money, but when he reached for the USB, Del shoved it into his own pocket. “You get this after I talk to Valentine.”
“That wasn't the deal.”
“Fuck your deal,” Del snorted. “How do I know you didn't rape her? In fact, for all I know, she's chopped up in a dumpster somewhere right now.”
“She's in the next room, singing in the shower, you idiot. I can hear her from here.”
“I don't give a fuck. She confirms that she had a lovely time with you in that room, then the USB is yours.”
Ari glared at him. He didn't like someone one-upping him, and he should've seen this coming. He supposed he didn't have much of a choice, though.
“Fine. You talk to Valentine, you make her understand her new job. And if I find out she's deep throating some guy's tongue, or she's giving lap dances in the Moon Room, or she's so much as holding hands with some lucky bachelor, I'll take back my money, plus interest. And DelVecchio, that interest will be your skin.”
“Yeah? You and what army, Fucko?”
“Don't try me, Del,” Ari warned him. “And keep her on a fucking leash, understood?”
“Hey, I'm not gonna put no fucking leash on any of my girls, least of all Valentine, do you understand?” Del snarled. “But I'll talk to her, I'll tell her your offer. It's up to her how she wants to respond, and then you gotta deal with that. You're the dumbass who came swaggering up here without talking to her first.”
“And you're running a business. I just paid for a service. You better deliver on that service,” Ari informed him.
“Yeah, yeah, I know my fucking job. You just make sure you treat her right, got it? That kid ain't got an easy life. She's been fighting the entire time she's been here, and I won't let you or anybody