Start a War (Saint View Psychos #1)(36)

I nodded, my head filling and then overspilling with the information. “I didn’t sign one.”

“You own the place, Bliss. If it goes down, you’re going down with it.”

I grimaced, watching Rebel sashay by, only for Nash to nab her and take two more drinks. He handed me one, and I sipped it gratefully.

“You’re not making any of this sound very appealing. Why would you put yourself at this sort of risk?”

He shook his head. “I wouldn’t. This was all Axel’s show. And I suspect that this is what got him killed.”

“You think someone from one of these parties killed him?”

He raised one shoulder, noncommittally. “I don’t know, but it’s a valid theory and one the cops can’t pursue because they don’t know about this side of the business. But there were definitely people who didn’t like Axel running this place. Or didn’t like that they were never on the invite list.”

“You don’t think it was the man who paid me a visit then?”

Nash shook his head. “No, I think that was one of Axel’s suppliers. I intend on finding out who that is, but it’s not like he kept a written record of who supplies him with the performers, as well as…all the other entertainment offered here.”

“Prostitutes?”

He shook his head. “Axel was always pretty clear on that. Everybody pays a cover charge, but nobody pays for sex. What people do in dark corners or the private rooms? That’s entirely up to them. But nobody pays for it. Drugs, on the other hand, are freely accessible and can be bought at the bar.”

“So this sex club I own is basically also a drug dealership?”

“You could put it that way.”

I let my head fall back against the couch. “This is bad, Nash!”

He bit his lip. “Look, I’m not gonna lie and say I wasn’t against all this from the beginning. But Axel was a smart businessman, despite his upbringing. This side of Psychos makes a mint, Bliss. Life-changing sorta money. The kind where you do this for a few years, and it sets you and your kids up for life.”

I shook my head. “It all sounds super simple when you put it like that. But it’s illegal.”

“It’s minimum fifty thousand profit a night.”

I gaped at him. “A night? How many nights a week does this run?”

“Depends on the month. Mostly only one night a month, but there’s been the odd occasion where we’ve done two or even three.”

“You’re telling me this place can make a hundred and fifty thousand dollars profit in a month? Only being open three nights?”

Nash nodded. “Between the cover charge, the drugs, and all the add-ons people can purchase, it’s a lot of money. We can fit a lot of people in here, and as word spreads about us, more and more people try to get on the list. The fact no one is allowed to say what happens in here makes it all the more appealing, I think. People want to find out for themselves. It’s all word-of-mouth marketing. Very underground and hush-hush. I thought Axel was crazy when he first started talking about it, but fucking hell, it works. There’s three hundred and something on the list tonight, and that’s not even capacity.” He eyed me carefully. “But it comes with risk, Bliss. Don’t get blinded by the dollar signs.”

It was too late. The thought of having money like that was mind-blowing. My own money. Not my father’s. Not Caleb’s. It was something I’d never thought possible for myself.

“Six months. The guy in my room the other night. He said his contract with Axel lasted another six months. If I sold Psychos now—”

“You probably wouldn’t get enough to pay him out. Psychos the bar is worth next to nothing. We don’t own the building. Just the business. We pay rent for the entire space, and that contract would need to be paid out too. As well as our alcohol tabs and utility bills. I can’t imagine anyone really wanting to come in and take over a place that smells faintly of piss and spilled beer.” He shrugged. “But I guess you wouldn’t really need to worry about that. You could just sell a diamond earring or something to cover the shortfall.”

I didn’t tell him that all my diamonds were actually cubic zirconia. I’d already pawned the only set of true diamonds I owned. I hadn’t gotten nearly as much as I’d hoped for them either.

Nash’s intense gaze flickered over my face. “So, what’s it gonna be, Blissy girl? You selling up shop to the highest bidder? Or you walking in your brother’s footsteps and becoming one of us?”

My father had raised me to do the right thing. That meant selling Psychos and going to the police about the illegal goings-on and the masked man in my bedroom.

But even as I considered that, the hood rat in me knew that going to the cops would only make things worse as well as leaving me with more debts to pay.

There was a third option. I could look at this as an opportunity for something more. It might not have been the business I’d dreamed of owning. But it was already mine. It could provide for me and help pay off some of my father’s debts so he could get back on his feet. He could hire a business manager to get his company back on track, and Everett and Verity wouldn’t have to leave their private schools. I could pay for them to continue getting the very best education.

I wanted that for them. I never wanted them to suffer hunger or neglect the way I had when we’d had no money. I didn’t want them to lose the safety and security they had now. I didn’t want them knowing there was any other way to live than the privileged lives they’d had so far.